


Aere Perennius

by RubyEliz



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Haruka falls slowly but completely, M/M, Prince Matsuoka Rin, Prince Nanase Haruka, Rin falls fast and hard, Slow Burn (Sort Of), Some angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2020-05-29 17:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 66,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyEliz/pseuds/RubyEliz
Summary: Crown Prince Matsuoka Rin had grown up on love, on stories of star crossed lovers, Princes rescuing Princesses and the promise of finding his own second self. So when, despite all of his hopes, he is faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage he is determined not to give up on his own love story and to make the best of it. That he will make sure to find at least one thing to love about his new spouse…Quick note on rating - it may go up to M, but I'm not totally sure. If this happens I'll update the overall rating and flag content at the start of relevant chapters.





	1. I: Conubium

Rin stared at himself in the polished bronze mirror as attendants fussed around him, fixing the shining royal pin at his shoulder, lining his eyes with gold paint and finally settling the Matsuoka circlet atop his brow. 

He looked strange to his own eyes. As Crown Prince he was not unused to getting dressed up for ceremonial occasions or important guests, but this was a step above all that. 

The preparations had been going on for what felt like days. He’d been woken at dawn and bathed, his skin rubbed with rich scented oils and polished until it was bright and gleaming. His hair too had been oiled then carefully combed back from his face to let the splendour of the golden circlet stand out. His wrists bore heavy gold cuffs, with more circling his ankles. Even his nails had been buffed and rubbed with sweet almond oil. His usual clothing had been passed over in favour of a chiton of the finest linen, woven through with gold and a heavy crimson cape fixed over his shoulders with more gold fastenings. 

He felt less like a real Prince and more like a painting of one from one of his father’s books. 

The thought of his father brought with it pause and a pang of grief that he would miss this day. Rin forced himself to regulate his breathing. A future King should emit calm and reason at all times after all. 

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts as a servant entered, stooped apologetically at the intrusion of such private preparations. 

“My Prince, forgive the interruption, Her royal highness the Princess wishes to speak with you.” 

Rin nodded his ascent and waved off his attendants who kept finding ever more aspects of his appearance to fuss over and perfect. 

Once they were alone, Gou stepped forward. She looked beautiful, dressed in a peplos of soft pink that somehow complimented her bright hair rather than clashing with it. She too was wearing an abnormal amount of gems and jewels, her own only slightly less brilliant circlet sat atop her head. 

“Sister, come to wish me luck?”

They embraced, Rin trying carefully not to muss or smudge himself after so much work, and watched as Gou’s eyes passed over him worriedly. 

“Brother are you certain about this? I’m grateful for all you wish to do for me, you know I am, but surely there must be another way?” 

Rin smiled and cupped his sister’s chin.

“Gou, please stop worrying. I am glad to do this. For you and for Samezuka. All will be well.” He paused and gestured down to himself. 

“Now, tell me the truth. Do I look ridiculous? If they polish me any further I’m worried nobody will be able to look on me without risking being blinded.” 

Gou stepped back, then slowly circled him, pausing with a smile. 

“You look devastatingly handsome brother. I have never seen a finer Prince nor a finer husband-to-be.” 

Rin grinned boyishly back at her, all his royal poise melting away in a puff of pride at his sister’s praise. 

“You really think so? Well pray this Prince of Iwatobi agrees with you.” Then his smile slipped and he looked nervous suddenly, resisting the urge to reach up and fiddle with his hair. 

“Do you think he will like me? This Haruka?”

Gou’s expression flickered with something, guilt or anguish it was too fast for Rin to see, and then she smiled at him full of the confidence he so needed in that moment. 

“So long as you are able to keep your mouth shut long enough for him to speak at all, I daresay he will be in danger of loving you very much.” 

Rin felt his heart flutter then, and turned back to the bronze mirror. 

Somewhere in the distance he heard the horns start to play, heralding the arrival of the contingent from Iwatobi. He swallowed heavily. It was time. His wedding day had arrived. 

* * *

Rin had never intended to partake in an arranged marriage. He had grown up on love. On stories of star crossed lovers and Princes rescuing Princesses and the hope that he too would find his second self, the part of his heart that was missing and waiting to join with him to form a whole. 

His mother and father had met and fallen in love as youths, his father wooing his mother through songs on the lyre and messages furtively exchanged through trusted servants before Toraichi finally took the knee to Miyako’s father, Rin’s grandfather, and offered the finest silver and gold in all of Samezuka to be able to make her his wife. 

The fact that Toraichi was a Prince and Miyako a lady of fine birth herself, and that they were as good as placed in each other's paths in the first place never mattered much to Rin in the story. He clung onto the fact it was a marriage of love first and foremost. 

But everything had changed unexpectedly when one day in the winter a messenger from Iwatobi had arrived with a royal declaration for the Queen Regent. 

It stated that Iwatobi was invoking the right of an ancient treaty between the two territories, and that a marriage was to take place between their houses. 

To say this news had been unwelcome was an understatement.

The nations of Iwatobi and Samezuka had a colourful past. According to histories that predated the first written texts, they had once been part of the same lands and ruled by a ruthless magistrate before there had been a revolt and the territories had split between a handful of noble families. 

Tiny gemstone sized Samezuka had been the smallest among the territories by far and so given to the smallest house - the Matsuoka’s. It had been a land of desert and rock for many years, overlooked by its larger counterparts and situated at the opposite side of the old empire to coastal Iwatobi, far beyond the notice of the grand Nanase household. 

Beyond notice that is until one of Rin’s ancestor’s had discovered a means of unearthing precious metals from the land causing it to rapidly prosper.

In the version of the story that Rin knew of, it was said that in their fledgling days of prosperity the King of Iwatobi had grown jealous and, seeking dominion over Samezuka, the two territories fell to war. While in size Samezuka had seemed utterly outmatched, they were also famed for their fierce warriors, and what should have been a decimation turned into a long drawn stalemate, men on both sides becoming weary of the battle until a begrudging peace was forged. 

The two had been set as diametrically opposed ever since, although truth be told since those days of war that had occurred long before Rin had been born, so many other states and territories had formed and reformed around and between them that the rage and hate that had once burned bright had weakened to little more than well worn jokes told between old men after one too many cups of wine.

Neither Rin, nor most of the current Samezuka council had even been aware such a treaty had existed, a relic from a peace forged long ago that was designed to secure the future harmony of the two states should relations ever sour again. 

But it seemed Iwatobi had never forgotten, and, finding itself with one too many sons had decided to lay claim to the agreement. 

The messenger stated that to honour the treaty Iwatobi bid that their fourth son - a Haruka Nanase - wished to be joined with the Princess of Samezuka. Gou. 

Gou had done a much better job of retaining her composure than Rin, who had stormed and raged that she was far too young to be claimed for marriage yet, and that he would not see his sister used as a pawn in some political agreement they had not been alive to see formed. 

Iwatobi was not the first to make overtures for Gou’s hand, but Queen Regent Miyako had always refused, and so right away she and Rin had the best legal minds in Samezuka study the treaty. 

I was all for nought. No loophole or way around it could be found. A royal child of Samezuka must be wed to royal child of Iwatobi to keep the peace. 

In public, and with their mother, Gou accepted her fate bravely and with only jokes and smiles about going to live with the enemy. But Rin had heard her crying when she thought nobody was around and could not bear it. Could not bear to lose his sister to some strange household so far away that he knew nothing much of beyond what was taught in his lessons. 

He had fretted and paced and lost sleep over it only to, in the middle of one night, summon the council to reread the treaty aloud to him. Twice. 

Once they had finished, satisfied he knew what he would do. 

Lips set in a firm line he had spoken. “I will honour the treaty. I will accept the marriage.” 

To say the council had been up in arms would be an understatement, but Rin had been unwavering. He would not see his sister forced into marriage. And so, the council had had to decide if it were a bigger risk to break the treaty altogether or allow their Crown Prince to throw himself on his sword.  
  
Ultimately they opted for the latter.

What followed was a tense two months while the Matsuoka family waited to hear Iwatobi’s response. Marriage between two men was not uncommon in Samezuka, but the traditions in Iwatobi were somewhat different and Rin knew his somewhat desperate maneuver to save his sister risked causing offence.

Privately, he also hoped that perhaps - unable to refuse the hand of a future king outright, after all he was set to ascend to the throne in only a year - he might just have found a way to instead make Iwatobi back down and leave the matter of the treaty be for another generation to worry about.

As it was, when the herald from Iwatobi finally returned with their reply he had barely been able to contain his glee: The King and Queen of Iwatobi had accepted the new terms. 

And why not, Iwatobi had won a seat at the throne of Samezuka for only the price of a fourth son.  
  
They were of course thick with apologies that their elder three were already married, and that they had no daughters, offering a sizeable dowry to try and preserve the honour of the situation.  
  
Rin’s heart had sank, wishing bitterly that he could have made a more persuasive argument that nobody be married at all. 

Things had rapidly spiralled out of his control after that. A portrait had been commissioned to exchange with his future spouse - a tradition in their lands - and he had sat stiff and sweaty with nerves as he thought about the stranger who he was going to join his life to. 

When the answering portrait from Iwatobi arrived, he bid it be taken to his rooms and dismissed all his attendants so he could look upon it in private. 

Nervously, he had pulled away the covering, his breath catching in his throat as the image was revealed.

The figure it depicted was nothing short of stunning. Stony faced and severe, he was nonetheless one of the most beautiful youths Rin had ever laid eyes on. Skin pale as marble, eyes bright sapphire and hair black as a raven's wing. 

Rin had felt his heart speed up. He knew that portrait painters were bound by their trade to flatter their subjects, but if this Prince of Iwatobi was even a fraction as beautiful as the picture suggested, Rin thought he might have very little trouble at all falling in love with him. 

The thought had calmed him, and over the coming weeks and months he even found himself begin to grow excited by the prospect of his marriage. He talked to the portrait daily, telling his future husband all about himself and his life and the way he spent his days as if that might somehow help them grow close together. 

He found himself admiring it first thing when he woke each day and last thing when he went to sleep. 

In fact, it was fair to say, by the time his wedding day rolled around, Prince Rin Matsuoka was already half in love with Prince Haruka Nanase. 

* * *

Rin waited nervously. He wished Gou or his mother had been allowed to stay with him, but he knew he had to face this alone. 

The wedding was to take place in the royal gardens at the heart of his palace, where a great dais had been hastily constructed among the fountains and flowers so that Rin and his groom would be visible by all who had come to see. 

The members of the household, his court, his council and representatives from all the most powerful houses in Samezuka were arrayed immediately before him decked out in their finest clothing. The bright afternoon sun glinted off gold and jewels all around and Rin was secretly glad he wasn’t the only one wearing so many baubles and trinkets. 

Despite being used to being the subject of stares and whisperes, Rin felt uncommonly exposed. There was something of an anxious energy in the air. The news of the union with Iwatobi had not been best received in some quarters, and all were keen to get sight of the foreign Prince who had compelled their future King to marry when no others had been able to before. 

Rin too felt unsettled despite having set his mind to the marriage. He had always thought to face this day with a partner, not a stranger. He searched the crowd for a friendly face and finally finding Sousuke, gave a small nod in his direction. 

Sousuke smiled encouragingly at him, but it didn't reach his eyes. As his closest friend and trusted confidant Sousuke knew all about Rin’s romantic tendencies, and had made no secret of his concern for his future happiness. But he had also understood. Rin loved his sister more than anything. More than love itself. 

The wait felt unending, but finally the atmosphere started to shift. The eyes of the crowd turned from Rin, and the low beat of drums started up, carried forward on the wind. 

Rin resisted the urge to crane his neck to see or to work out some of his nerves by shifting from foot to foot. Future Kings did not ‘crane’ and they certainly did not hop about. 

He sent up a silent prayer to his father. _“Help me not shame you this day. Help me conduct myself well.”_

When the procession from Iwatobi finally came into sight, entering the courtyard from the western entrance, it was surprisingly modest. Rin had known the King and Queen themselves would not be in attendance, not uncommon for a child sent away to marry, but he had expected a little more ceremony at the opportunity for Iwatobi to display it’s superior size and power.

Their appearance was clearly intended as a show of honour though - clad in rich clothing of silk, deep blue capes fluttering in the light breeze. Rin watched the approach feeling very much like there was no longer enough air in the sky. 

First came the dowry. Beautiful young women carrying between them chest after chest of gold and silver, fine carved wood, intricately painted vases, swords and shields in bright polished metal, burnished bowls and gleaming tripods. The crowd gasped and murmured their approval at each offering as it was transported to the dais and piled up at Rin’s side. Rin nodded politely at each gift, but his eyes stayed fixed on what was to come next. 

The covered lectica, carried by six strong men, came into view. It was of a deep blue too, the curtains concealing its royal passenger. 

Rin felt his stomach lurch. It was happening. He was here. He was about to meet his groom. 

He focused hard on staying upright, on suppressing any visual sign of his nerves from the watching crowds as the attendants made their slow progress up toward him before coming to stop at the dais. 

The drumming stopped. The coverings were pulled back. And finally, with infinite grace, out stepped the Prince of Iwatobi. His husband-to-be.

Rin stared openly.

The portrait painter had - if it was even possible - not done a fraction of justice to its subject. 

His groom, this Prince Haruka, was entirely unadorned. Dressed in a long simple tunic of pale blue that was laced from collar to cuff, the little skin he could see - just his wrists, the curve of his neck and the pale of his face - was fresh and dewy and clear of any oils or paint. 

His eyes, fringed heavily with dark lashes, stayed lowered to the ground, but Rin could see a hint of that sapphire blue that had so leapt from the painting. The only real sign he was of royal birth and not some village beauty was in his bearing - straight backed and elegant despite the long journey - and in the thin silver circlet set against his brow. 

He was breathtaking. 

Rin felt suddenly ridiculous in all his puffed up and polished finery. He resisted the urge to fidget. Future Kings did not fidget no matter how wonderstruck.

Before he could compose himself enough to speak a welcome though the priest stepped up to the dais between then and called for silence to begin the ceremony. Bound by decorum - Rin turned his eyes to the front, pressing his lips tight and hoping that the hummingbird beat of his heart was audible only to him. 

The ceremony itself was long and formal, the rhythms and beats of the well worn rituals of their lands familiar to Rin even as he struggled to truly comprehend that he himself was the subject of them this time. 

First there was the long speeches recounting both his and Haruka’s lineage. All mention of the ancient war between their lands was tactically left out, speaking only of their long history of coexistence. When Toraichi’s name was announced Rin curled his fingers against his palms, pressing his nails into the skin there. He could not been seen to be affected still with so many eyes on him. 

Once their lineages were fully recounted, it was then time for the sacrifice. Rin knew it was tradition, that it was required in order to see that the gods blessed his marriage with good fortune, but he always hated this part. 

One of the lands finest, fattest calves was brought to the dais, ribbons and bells tied around its neck. He couldn’t help but flinch as the deed was done. He felt more than saw Prince Haruka turn to him, blue eyes lifting to study him directly for the first time, curious. Rin flushed slightly as he realised he had shamed himself in the eyes of his husband already, and squared his shoulders a little to shake off the misstep.

What followed was more speeches and prayers, tracts on family, on love, on loyalty, on the joining of two great houses. His priest he knew was a gifted orator, but Rin couldn’t help but wish it could all be over so much sooner so he would have the chance to finally turn and speak with the figure at his side. 

Prince Haruka stayed poised and impassive throughout the ceremony. The only time he showed he was even really paying attention at all was when the time came for him to confirm that he consented to the union. Rin felt a sudden, wild fear that he would not, but his groom’s voice came out calm and clear. 

“I consent.”

“And do you, Prince Matsuoka, heir to the throne of Samezuka, consent to be married to Prince Haruka, fourth son of Iwatobi?”

Rin heard a slight murmuring from the crowd at that. No matter how great the household, a fourth son was no real prize for a King. 

“I consent.” Rin replied, loud enough that all might hear, and pleased he sounded far more composed than he felt. 

With that, it was time. 

Rin turned and held out his upturned palm to Haruka. Without lifting his gaze Haruka placed his own on top. Rin suddenly felt terribly aware that his hands were clammy with nerves. Haruka’s in contrast felt smooth and cold as marble, his long elegant fingers resting in the palm of Rin’s hand. 

The priest handed Rin a ring. No ordinary ring, a magnificent rough cut ruby set in a band of gold. It had been his father’s, passed down to Rin when he had been killed. 

As soon as he had known he was to be married he had determined that this was the ring he wanted to give his groom. A sign of his willingness, of his hopes and dream that despite the circumstances of their match they could grow to be as happy as his parents had been. 

With slightly trembling fingers he slid the band onto the third finger of Haruka’s right hand. It met no resistance, and Rin noticed with some dismay it was a little big for Haruka’s slender digit. 

“I’ll have it better fitted.” He murmured softly. Haruka only nodded slightly, and Rin looked up at him, their first exchange involving none of the romance he’d hoped. 

Haruka’s blue eyes met his own briefly and Rin felt his breath catch again. He truly was beautiful. More beautiful than any young man or woman Rin had come across. 

He opened his mouth to say something else, to say anything really to show Haruka he was not disappointed in their match, but then the priest’s voice cut in clear pulling Rin’s gaze and the moment was gone. 

“You are now joined as one, and may mark your union with a kiss.”

Rin felt his heart stutter. He turned back face Haruka whose eyes had lowered again. Rin wet his lips nervously. At 20 years of age he had been kissed before of course - foolish, playful things of youth. But this was his husband. The first kiss of their lives together. 

He was terribly nervous. 

Prince Haruka was just a fraction shorter than Rin himself, a detail he noticed as he leant forward to press his lips lightly against his mouth.

In this Haruka was cool as marble too, lips soft but ungiving, although Rin could have sworn he could detect just a hint of the promise of warmth underneath. He realised with a sudden shock of desire that he was curious for that warm, that he wanted more - but too quickly it was over and the crowds roared to life in celebration of the ceremonies conclusion. 

Rin turned, hand slipping from Haruka’s as they moved to face the gathered audience shoulder to shoulder. He felt woozy with the weight of the moment - he was married. 

* * *

Rin soon had the opportunity to hold his groom - his husbands - hand again as they led the procession to the banquet hall. He laced their fingers together, and was inordinately pleased that Haruka seemed to have no objection, the weight of his father's ring on Haruka’s finger feeling strangely comforting when pressed back against his own hand. 

He led them through the well wishers throwing petals over them, spotting his mother and Gou both composed aside from a hint of redness around the eyes betraying their emotion at the day. 

Flicking his eyes to Haruka he noted that a petal had become caught in the silk of his hair. His thought to raise his free hand to brush it away - a gesture he hoped would convey his sincere affection when words had not yet had chance to - was quickly quashed when Haruka simply shook his head nonchalantly freeing the offending petal. Rin caught it in his hand and tucked it in the folds of his clothing.

On entering the banquet hall, Rin couldn’t help the crack in his composure as he grinned. The weeks of preparations had not been in vain, the great room lavishly decorated with candles and blossoms and flags and streamers of Iwatobi blue and Samezuka red twined together. It was beautiful, right out of his most romantic fantasies, and in the soft golden lighting he felt less gaudy and exposed. He flattered himself that maybe Gou was right and he might even look rather handsome in his finery, his golden cuffs and circlet catching the light. 

He snuck a glance at his groom to see his reaction to his new home, but Prince Haruka remained stoic, eyes fixed ahead. 

Rin tried not to feel too disappointed and motioned for a cup of wine for then both. Perhaps his husband was just feeling overwhelmed by all the pomp and ceremony. Surely over the course of the feast they would have time to talk, time to get to know one another a little. 

* * *

They did not talk. 

At least not in any meaningful way. Rin tried on several attempts - softly pointing out the key members of his court, explaining each of the dishes of beautifully prepared food as they arrived, but Haruka gave very little sign he heard any of it. 

Rin sorely wished he would give some - any - indication of what he was thinking or feeling. But he accepted he might need to wait until the performance of their marriage was over and they were finally alone to truly meet for the first time. 

He wondered if perhaps his groom was just shy. He certainly seemed reticent to engage in conversation with the many well wishers that approached them where they sat together on twin thrones at the top of the room, Rin finding himself taking the lead in the conversation for both of them.

Rin had watched particularly as Gou introduced herself to Haruka, unable to help his interest. Haruka might very well prefer women after all, and she had been the target of the original proposal. But as it was Haruka had offered her the same cordial almost non-acknowledgement he had for everyone else.

Rin wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or offended on behalf of his sister. Frankly, he was feeling so much of so many things it was impossible to parse them all.

In the hours of feasting and entertainment that followed, Rin kept sneaking glances at his new husband. His court had arranged for the finest of the regions entertainment in honour of the occasion - music and players and mystics with their magic tricks. Normally Rin would have been delighted, the players particularly having performed a romance suited perfectly to his taste, but he was too busy studying his groom for any hint of a reaction, and so while he clapped and cheered loudly after each act, in truth he barely registered what was happening in front of them and found he ate and drank very little. 

Prince Haruka ate and drank even less, expression coolly neutral and gaze fixed on the scene before them without giving any one thing too much attention.  
  
Rin longed to reach out, to lace their hands again and feel the cool of that palm against his own. To give and to seek some reassurance that they were facing this strange situation together. But he kept his hands at his side unmoving.  
  
As the night drew on and his court became drunker and drunker around him, Rin felt a subtle tap on his shoulder. 

He turned to find one of his most loyal servants, Aii stood blushing lightly. 

“Your Royal Highness, I come with the message that your chambers are prepared. His Highness Prince Nanase’s personal effects have been delivered there.”

Rin nodded and felt his heart start to beat too fast, almost threatening to escape his chest.

It was tradition that the newly married couple be first to leave the feast and retire to the privacy of their marriage bed. It was a delicate balance though. Too soon and he would look over eager to depart his honoured guests. Too late and Haruka or the court may think him an unwilling groom. 

He wondered if Haruka felt the nerves he did, or if perhaps his new husband was more experienced in these matters. Beautiful as he was, Rin considered it unlikely he had not been courted, had romances and lovers before. 

Rin on the other hand… he was equipped with theoretical knowledge. When he’d found out the marriage was to proceed he’d enlisted Sousuke into helping him source some ‘tracts’ on the matter (to Sousuke’s great enjoyment at the prospect of future opportunities for teasing since, as Rin’s closest confidant, he took the responsibility of keeping the Crown Prince humble very seriously) and Rin was nothing if not a diligent student. But theoretical and practical knowledge were of course two very different things, and Rin still had questions. Lots of questions.

He wondered how it would feel. What Haruka might enjoy - if indeed he had an appetite for men at all - and if he did which positions he preferred, and how Rin was supposed to find out without exposing himself for the beginner he was. He wondered most of all how they were supposed to go from being total strangers, who had exchanged barely more than a dozen words, to sharing themselves so intimately with each other.  
  
He waited a song more to gather himself, feeling his palms sweat and barely hearing the music. Then, at the close, he finally forced himself to lean over, reaching to place a hand lightly against the silk of Haruka’s sleeve.  
  
“Prince Haruka, you have had a long journey. Perhaps you wish to retire for the night?”

Haruka did not move at all for an achingly long time before, finally, slowly he inclined his head just a little in assent. 

* * *

Making their way along the corridors to his chambers Rin searched his mind for some way to soften the formality between them, some way to start the work of forging a connection, but his mind ran blank.

Prince Haruka was of no help at all either, following in silence, a careful hand-span of space between himself and Rin. 

When they reached the doors to his quarters the servants swept them open for them but instead of following to provide assistance as they would normally, left Rin and Haruka to walk inside alone. 

Finally, thankfully, truly alone. 

Walking from the outer rooms into his bedchambers Rin noted that they had been prepared with fresh cut flowers that perfumed the air, a jug of wine, a plate of fruits and meats to replenish them and, discreetly, a selection of oils tucked to the side of the large bed to aid them in the activity for which they would need to be sustained. 

Haruka took all this in with that same cool gaze, then, without turning to Rin spoke quietly but firmly. 

“This room will do fine. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Rin had lived all his life at court. He knew a dismissal when he heard it. And yet he stood frozen in surprise, both that his husband had finally spoken and at the meaning behind his words. 

“Haruka...” he started, unsure how to broach such a topic. Could it be his groom was as inexperienced as he was? And did not know what was expected of them this night. 

Prince Haruka turned, eyes narrowed slightly in clear displeasure at being further disturbed. His chin was lifted and his gaze sharp, showing none of the deference or meekness indicated by his earlier behaviour. 

Not shy then. 

“Yes husband.” The word came flat, almost the hint of a challenge in it. 

“It is our marriage night.” Rin said slowly, carefully. 

Haruka’s face shuttered further. 

“It is.” 

“I am still to learn all the traditions of Iwatobi. I do not wish to offend you, but... in Samezuka it is considered... what I mean to say is our union is not complete until...” Rin was waffling in a most un-princely fashion. 

“You expect to take me?” Haruka challenged bluntly.

“No! I mean… well, what I mean to say is ... in a sense...yes, it is expected that we will lie together this night. To consummate our marriage. But it doesn’t have to be… I mean...” Rin knew his face was crimson. Haruka was pale and seemed unruffled, though there was a tension in jut of his jaw, in the way he squared his shoulders. 

He interrupted Rin’s floundering. “I am aware of the traditions. I wish to go to sleep. Alone.” 

“But they will say ...” 

Haruka cocked his head.

“If you intend to try to force me I should advise it will not end well.”

Rin almost fell over in a rush to put some more distance between them, hands raised in defence. How could it be that things were going so terribly wrong so quickly... 

“No! No never! Haruka I would not...”

“Then we shall say goodnight.”

“Haruka…” Rin didn’t know what to say. He had no wish to do anything that the other man was unwilling for, the thought sent him cold, but at the same time he felt the weight of their duty upon them. 

“I know this is strange. I am sorry for it. I know I am a stranger to you. This is not what I would wish for us but … if we don’t it will bring shame on our union. People will say it’s not real… that we have not upheld the treaty.”

Haruka shrugged and looked away. 

“But it’s not real. You can tell your advisers whatever you like about tonight. That you had me however you wanted, as many times as you wanted. And for that matter you can keep as many of your current lovers as you wish.” He stated calmly. “I won’t mind. But I intend to sleep alone.” 

Rin’s face burned brighter. As he had originally suspected his new husband must be much more experienced than him to talk of such things so matter of factly.

“I don’t… have lovers. We don’t really... do that here...outside of marriage.” He replied, flustered. 

Haruka turned and seemed genuinely surprised, his stern features softening for a moment in almost youthful wonder. “But...but how can that be? You all wear so little clothing.”

Rin looked from Haruka - all laced up and covered - to himself, his arms and thighs bear under his wedding chiton and felt himself flush. 

“The days are hot here.”

Haruka eyed him wearily as if he didn’t believe him, before turning back to the bed and yawning theatrically. 

Another clear dismissal. 

“Don’t … don’t you want to get to know me even a little?” He tried, sounding far too close for a whine for his station. 

Haruka shrugged without turning. 

“I’m told we have our whole lives for that. I wish to sleep.”

It was not the answer Rin had been expecting. But he also felt ready to put an end to his own humiliation at the hands of his clearly unimpressed and uninterested husband. He sighed feeling utterly deflated. 

“Ok. Alright. Then… then I’ll say goodnight.” 

When there was no response from Haruka, Rin bowed and saw himself out of the sleeping area. 

He paused in the antechamber, momentarily confused about what to do. He hadn’t prepared for this eventuality. He supposed he could seek out other rooms in the palace, but then the servants outside would see and everyone knew that they talked. It wouldn’t do to be seen to be leaving so soon. 

With a barely suppressed groan he squared his shoulders, turned and he knocked on his own chamber door before reentering. 

Haruka had already stripped to the waist, his lean, yet well muscled torso on full display. He turned to Rin making no move to cover himself, but his frown was clear. 

“These are my rooms.” Rin explained hurriedly trying to fight down the flush that threatened. Haruka really was beautiful. 

Haruka’s frown deepened. “I thought I was to sleep here?” 

“They were to be _our_ rooms.”

That was met with stony silence. Rin sighed. 

“I will arrange something tomorrow. Tonight for appearances if nothing more we must sleep here.” 

“Sleep.” Haruka echoed slowly, seemingly still unwilling 

“Only sleep.” Rin assured trying not to feel too offended that the Prince clearly had so little faith in his morals. 

That seemed to placate him though, and without any additional comment or undressing further Haruka slipped under the covering on the large bed, curling on his side facing away from Rin. 

Rin questioned what to do about his own sleeping wear (being used to sleeping naked…) before landing on staying as he was. He washed the paint from his face quickly in the basin of warm water set by the window, blew out the candles that dotted the room and then joined Haruka on the bed, making a point of lying over the coverings and instead using his cape to cover himself lest Haruka still feel at risk. 

He tried to get comfortable without moving around too much but failed miserably. In the end he settled for lying on his back peering up at the dark. 

He had never shared a bed before. Not since he was a child and would sneak into the open arms of his mother and father. 

The warmth of it was a surprise, and he found himself hyper aware of Haruka’s body despite how insistently curled away from him it lay. He wondered if he was sleeping or merely showing a likeness of it. 

As he lay there, Rin waited to feel some sense of loss or disappointment. After all this wasn’t at all how he had pictured his wedding day. He’d pictured joy, love, romance, not the quiet loneliness of a stranger in his bed. But it didn’t come. He felt only tiredness, the acute awareness of the body beside him and some strange stubborn flutter of what could be hope. 

In the dark he whispered. “I hope you will be happy here Haruka. And I will do all I can to see that you are.”

He was met with silence, but something in the rhythm of breath from the body beside him made him feel Haruka had heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I never had any intention of writing another story with an arranged marriage in it after [The Long Engagement](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924423/chapters/34573826)  
>  (I actually have a different multi-chapter WIP I really want to finish that has nothing to do with marriage at all, but it is fighting me), but then I went into a weird phase of reading a bunch of old classics that have quite a lot of them in and the idea struck and here we are … 
> 
> I’ve never attempted any kind of AU before (I’m really not sure I have the imagination for it) so I have no idea if this will be any good or of any interest, but I have most of this story plotted out so we’ll see how things go! Do let me know if you have any tips to improve, or if you’d be interested in reading more of this. I realise it’s a pretty tropey topic (but tropes are fun, right?), but hopefully I’ll be able to put my own spin on it! 
> 
> There is going to be some angst (because I can’t seem to write anything without it, and also because I like the idea of thinking about love at first sight vs love that grows over time) but I promise it's nothing as drawn out as my last multi-chapter and they get their happy ending <3


	2. II: Siccitas

Rin woke with a jolt, feeling unsettled. It took him a few beats to locate the source of the feeling, and then he rolled to his side and spotted the outline of the sleeping body beside him. 

Prince Haruka had not moved in the night, staying twisted away from Rin so all that he could really see was his shoulder blades and the black of his hair. Rin felt a twist in his guts at the distance between them and as he remembered the awkwardness of their time alone the night before. 

He made a mental note that he had promised Haruka rooms of his own, and wondered how he was possibly supposed to position his requirement without his whole court immediately getting wind that all was not well between them. He lay for a while, mind whirring with how he was supposed to make things right, while Haruka slept on unaware. 

He played over their short, terse interaction. His own fumbling missteps. He felt himself become restless with the tension of it, though forcing himself to lie still so that Haruka could rest, before finally the silence of the room became too suffocating for him to bear and he crept from the bed. 

Silently, he pulled of his wedding chiton and cape, casting them to the floor with something like disgust, and instead wrapped a subligaculum around his waist before heading out of his chambers and heading directly to the stables, politely acknowledging at the servants and guards he passed who were already busy with the days duties. 

There was a well worn running track and training arena not far from where the palace horses were housed, and for as long as Rin remembered it had been his habit to start the day with training of some kind. First with his father, and then once he had passed with Sousuke or one of the palace trainers or - occasionally as he did this morning - alone. 

He started with some light stretches, easing out the tension from having slept unnaturally curled in on himself - before setting off around the track at a light jog, watched only by the morning birds and a few of his personal guards who followed him inconspicuously wherever he went. 

As his muscles warmed, sweat starting to prickle over his chest and arms, he felt his thoughts settle a little. While it was true his wedding night had not been what he had hoped, he had known it unlikely it would be. It wasn’t Haruka’s fault they were strangers, and it was unfair of Rin to place on him all the responsibility for his romantic notions and dreams. 

Perhaps he had not been the only one who had been nervous, who had harboured hopes for themselves beyond an arranged marriage. Perhaps Haruka too had hoped to marry for love. 

Perhaps Rin had even misread Haruka’s boldness when discussing matters of the bedchamber. Rin had just assumed that he’d be the least experienced of the pair, but perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps Haruka had not laid with a man before. Perhaps he was even a virgin like himself, in which case the pressure on them to consummate a match that neither of them had planned for may well have been the reason he had been so terse and on edge. 

Rin felt himself strangely soothed by the thought.Now that the awkward formalities of the marriage was done, and the tension of the first night was over, perhaps now he would have the chance to fairly win Haruka over, as Rin himself was already half won.

Sure, it might be doing things backwards, but now that Rin was married he was determined to woo his husband. 

He even felt himself smile a little as he thought again of how stunning Haruka had looked in his wedding tunic, how he had set Rin’s heart racing any time those blue eyes had turned his way. In many ways he was lucky. His marriage was a political one it was true, but it was not one without potential. That he was attracted to Haruka was plain, but the man also intrigued him, with his stoic demeanour that Rin had seen belied a firyness within. 

Lost to his thoughts and the rhythmic sound of his feet against the dirt as he ran his laps, Rin didn’t register Sousuke’s arrival until he heard the taller man call out to him from the side of the track. 

“Rin? I did not expect to see you here this morning.”

Rin pulled up to a stop by his friend panting lightly. “But I’m here every morning.”

Sousuke frowned lightly. “Yes, but— last night. I thought you’d be…detained.”

“He’s sleeping.” 

Sousuke wiggled his brows suggestively. “Aah, tire him out did you?”

Rin blushed and bit out. “He has had a long journey. It is almost a full month between here and Iwatobi by carriage.”

Sousuke nodded, then turned and collected two practice swords from the wall of the training arena, throwing one to Rin who caught it easily. 

They fell to sparring, Sousuke asking, “So. Tell me. What do you think of him so far? Does he live up to the perfect Prince Nanase you’ve been mooning over all these months?”

Rin tried to distract him with a complex series of parries, but Sousuke knew him too well and deflected them with practiced ease. 

“It’s... still new. There’s a lot for me to learn about him. And him about me.”

Sousuke danced around him, almost landing a blow before stepping back and wiping his brow. 

“Yet he does not appear very forthcoming. I was barely granted two words when I presented to him.” He turned away as he spoke, avoiding Rin’s eye. 

“He’s quiet. It doesn’t mean he’s not kind.” Rin reassured, sensing that there was some underlying vulnerability in the comment. Sousuke might be his closest ally, having grown up together as children while Sousuke’s father acted as King Toraichi personal guard and advisor, but he was not of royal blood and despite Rin’s best efforts to reassure him, he knew the divide in their station still concerned his friend at times. 

Sousuke rolled his shoulders, testing the weight of the practice sword in his hand thoughtfully, and when he looked back a Rin the tension was gone and it its place was a wicked little grin. “Unless... I hope the Nanase’s haven’t landed you with the family idiot. You know Iwatobi.” 

“Hey!” Rin launched a fresh attack, forcing Sousuke back a few steps. “That’s my husband you’re talking about.” 

Sousuke laughed good naturedly, defending against each stroke. “Look at you. Already fighting for his honour. I’m glad you’re as besotted with him in the flesh as you were with his portrait. I was surprised not to have caught you kissing it. I know you did.”

Rin growled, annoyed and threw the sword aside, tackling Sousuke around the waist and bringing him to the ground. 

“Don’t be an ass. I want for this to work.”

Sousuke kept laughing, and they wrestled for a few moves before breaking off and sitting back against the ground, each sweat slicked and panting. 

“He is a beauty. I’ll grant you that.” He winked. Then turned serious. “Just... don’t let him distract you from what’s really important. Your ascension. You can’t give the council any reason to doubt your readiness. Now’s the time to show them a King. Not a love sick puppy.”

Rin pushed the hair back from his eyes. “I know. I know all this. I’m focussed. But this is the only marriage I’m going to get, so I intend for it to be a happy one.” 

Sousuke sighed heavily, a certain sadness ghosting over his features, but he wiped it away quickly and reached over to clap Rin on the shoulder. 

“Best get back then friend. I don’t think it wise to have your new husband wake to an empty bed.”

Rin nodded, then stared at the ground. 

He wanted to say more. To open up about how confused he felt, the mixture of excitement to see the man in his bed, and fear that he wouldn't be enough in return to make him happy. It felt strange to keep anything from Sousuke, and he felt the urge to confess that his marriage night had been nothing at all like what he’d hoped, and that by their laws he and Haruka were not even truly bound yet, but he stayed silent. Instead he only jumped to his feet, seeing Sousuke off with a short wave before retracing his steps back to his chambers. 

* * *

He found Haruka not sleeping soundly as he had left him, but awake and sat at the window seat in the airy reception room of his chambers, gazing out on the gardens as if in repose for a portrait. He was dressed in a fresh white tunic, and the way the light cut across his features made him appear almost as a heavenly being from the myths Rin had grown up on. 

Rin sucked in a breath at the sight, and thought with some regret how much he would like to have the image committed paint until he realised with a jolt that his own actual portrait of Haruka was still within the rooms. He flushed hoping Haruka hadn’t seen. 

“Prince Haruka!” He greeted, cursing that he sounded so surprised. For who else had he left in his bed? 

Haruka turned to him slowly and as his face moved back into shadow Rin felt a sudden wave of guilt for leaving him to wake alone on his first official day in Samezuka. As Sousuke had said, it was hardly the best of starts, and while Haruka could of course have called for anything he might desire from one of the servants, Rin wished to be the one to make sure he was comfortable and seen to. 

“I’m sorry for leaving you to wake alone. Has it been long?”

Haruka shrugged the question off, but the fact he appeared fully washed and dressed answered the question for Rin. 

“Only it’s my habit to run or to train early most mornings. It’s the only time that is my own, and otherwise I start to become soft in the middle quite quickly.” Rin felt the urge to explain himself, and once he started he couldn't stop. “They tell me my father was the same, though I never noticed it. I thought he was like a god. He was the best at so many of the games - running, wrestling, sword fighting, archery… they say he would have become champion of the region if he’d lived to see the decathlon games. I’m planning to compete for champion too when it next comes round. I can already beat the best in Samezuka, though I know some say they let me win since I will be King. Do you like to run? Or to take part in the games? I’ve never competed against any contender from Iwatobi.”

Haruka raised his brows at the onslaught, eyes widening a little, and it was enough to make Rin stop in his tracks. 

“I… Apologise. I’m told I speak too much sometimes.” He confessed, voice dry with the embarrassment of it. He thought he had moved well beyond this childish habit of running his mouth when he was excited or nervous. He’d had some of the best education and training after all, but it seemed it came to nought under the intensity of Prince Haruka’s blue eyes. 

Strangely though, this admission seemed to soften Haruka a little, and though it was too fast to be sure, he could have sworn he saw the corners of his lips turn up ever so slightly. Eventually he replied slowly. “I like the water. I am told you have beautiful baths here.” 

Rin’s eyes lightened.

“Oh we do! I’d wager some of the grandest you’ll ever see. Who told you of this?” 

“My… a friend. He had to stay in Iwatobi. He told me I’d be able to use them.” Haruka answered, suddenly looking younger and far more vulnerable than he had at any point the night before. Rin swallowed hard and pasted on a wide smile. 

“Well your friend was right. After we eat I will show them to you. They are your own now too after all.”

“Mine?” 

“Of course. Haruka you are a Prince of Samezuka now. Everything you see in this palace is yours to make use of as you wish.”

“A Prince of Samezuka.” Haruka echoed quietly, twisting Rin’s father’s ring around on his finger and turning away from Rin and back to the window. 

It read as another dismissal.

Rin wiped his hand across his face, feeling the salt and sweat there and suddenly very aware he was half naked and covered in grit from the arena floor. Hardly putting his best self forward. With a low sigh turned and rang the bell for the servants to come and assist him with readying for the morning. 

The doors opened immediately, and Aii and a number of his household staff poured in, Aii immediately talking nineteen to the dozen about Rin’s schedule for the day. 

And just like that they were once more no longer alone.

* * *

They walked to breakfast together, although Rin failed to pluck up the courage to reach for Haruka’s hand. As they approached the high table Haruka made rather an unsubtle show of requesting a cushion to sit on which caused Rin’s face to burn as numerous approving nods and winks were thrown his way. Thankfully, Gou and his mother were dining in his mother’s chambers as was their habit, otherwise Rin wasn’t sure he would have survived the embarrassment. 

As with the night before, Haruka barely touched his food, opting instead to focus on systematically staring back cooley and calmly at each individual member of the gathered court that was staring shamelessly at him. 

Rin hid a chuckle under his breath at the way one by one the stares crumpled under Haruka’s intensity. He sympathised. 

He also strangely longed to see that gaze turned to him. Despite the embarrassment of knowing all in the room would believe that the night before had progressed very differently to how it had gone in practice, Rin thrummed with an excited energy. The beautiful man at his side was his husband. He was breakfasting with _his husband._ And with the pomp and ceremony over they could get on with actually getting to know one another. Falling in love. Living happily ever after. 

At least that was what he hoped.

In reality most of Rin’s attempts to speak with Haruka were interrupted by members of his court and council approaching the high table and seizing their opportunity to secure a few words with their future King or briefing him on the core matters he was to oversee that day. 

Rin tried not to feel frustrated by it - that his life was not his own was a fact he had lived with since he was a child - but he couldn't help but wish that for a single day he might be granted the freedom to choose to speak only to the one person he was most concerned with spending time with.

Haruka for his part seemed unbothered by the many interruptions, staying quietly at Rin’s side and only occasionally reaching to twist the ring around his finger some more. 

Rin reminded himself he had promised to have it better fitted, and waved over an aid to give him a scroll of parchment so he could note the instructions. He then concluded the breakfast early, feeling only a twinge of guilt that, as he rose to stand, his household was required to cease with eating and stand too - some still with mouths of food or having to abandoned forks half lifted to mouths. 

Haruka, seemingly unbriefed on the etiquette of Rin’s court, stayed seated, a light murmur of displeasure breaking out around the room at the sight. 

Rin touched a hand lightly to his shoulder, “Haruka, if you are ready, I will show you the baths now.”

Haruka stood and gave a low, flourishing bow to the room, his arms carving graceful arcs in the air - a gesture that in its strangeness could only have been a custom from Iwatobi - before as good as sprinting from the hall. This served only to make things ten times worse, a fresh wave of murmurs and laughs breaking out around the room. 

Rin glared, successfully ending the chatter, before striding after Haruka while doing his best to look like he wasn't in chase (Kings did not _chase_ after anyone after all). Only once free from the room and under the eyes of servants alone did he break into a light run shouting after the man ahead of him.

“Haruka! Where are you going?”

Haruka slowed and turned back frowning. “You said it was time I could go to the baths?”

“Yes..but… but do you know where they are?” Rin tried not to sound as confused as he was by Haruka’s behaviour. 

Haruka stopped fully then and shrugged, looking at the ground, his long eyelashes casting shadows over his cheeks. 

Rin lifted his eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “Come, I will show you. Then you’ll know the route for next time.”

* * *

Bathing in Samezuka was as much a political act as it was personal. Due to the heat of the land, water had long been prized as a luxury, and while with time the Matsuoka royal family had ensured water was available to all - opening large communal baths in the towns and digging wells so that all could find clean water to drink - who bathed with who was seen as a significant marker of status.

The royal baths in the Palace were therefore lauded as the epitome of luxury and status. They constituted a large and complex series of interconnected rooms within the palace grounds, some opened out to the air, some closed and shielded from prying eyes. 

There were both baths that his court were permitted to use and those that were available only for Rin’s personal use. It was the latter he guided Haruka to. 

While smaller in scale than some of the other royal baths, Rin’s personal rooms were far more intimate and beautifully decorated.

First there was the tepidarium, a long rectangular shaped bath decorated with jade and silver which opened out to the sky, shaded only by strategically placed olive trees that twisted and bent under lush leaves and fruit. 

Then there was the frigidarium, a much larger pool of fresh, cold water big enough to swim in and lined with marble of the highest quality. 

Finally there was Rin’s favourite, the caldarium, the water in the pool so hot it steamed, lightly clouding and perfuming the air. Large panels of polished bronze lined the walls and lamps hung from the ceiling giving everything a soft golden flow. When he had the chance he would often swim hard and fast in the cool baths before spending time in this room winding down and easing away the tensions of the day. It was one of his favorite places in the whole palace, and he was excited for Haruka to see it, to share it with him and perhaps in the privacy they brought they might finally have a chance to get to know one another. 

As they entered the rooms, Rin watched closely for Haruka’s reaction and was gratified to see him captivated, his hand rising automatically to start to loosen the lacing at the collar of his tunic. 

“You like them? I’m pleased. You may visit here whenever you choose.” he offered smiling. “I’m the only person that has use of them normally. It will be nice to have someone to share it with.” 

Haruka turned to him, eyes bright and shining and he opened his mouth as if to speak…

But then a knock sounded at the door and Haruka pressed his lips together again, turning away. 

“Enter.” Rin called out wearily. 

Aii walked into the room with a hand pressed over his eyes clearly concerned at what he might be walking into.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your privacy your highness, but councillor Trajan insists he must speak with you urgently about planning for the harvest. I told him you were busy but he was rather...er forceful in his request. He is waiting for you in the council chambers.”

Rin pushed down his disappointment. Trajan was an annoyance but not one he could easily dismiss. One of his most vocal critics among the council and one of the most extreme opponents to the union with Iwatobi. _A strong leader would have faced Iwatobi on the battlefield for the honor of their princess._ He had said. Rin had known what lay behind the words. _A real King would have acted differently. You are not ready. Not worthy._

He would have to go. 

He glanced over at Haruka who was back to being captivated by the water, and had apparently paid little due to Aii’s arrival nor the news it brought, focussing instead on fighting against the lacing of his tunic. 

“Aii its ok you can uncover your eyes. Thank you for the message. Tell him… tell him I’ll be along presently.” He spoke finally, tearing his eyes away from Haruka’s newly exposed skin and cursing the councillor inwardly.

Aii bowed, cheeks pink and left them. Rin passed a hand over his face tiredly, readying himself for the battle he was sure to face.

“Haruka I’m afraid I must leave you now. Enjoy the baths, if you need for anything - anything at all - at all ring the bell and you will be seen to. When you are finished have someone send for me. I would like to show you the rest of your new home.” 

He waited for an acknowledgement, but none was forthcoming, Haruka now stripped to the waist and reaching determinedly for the tie of his pants. Rin hesitated, his blood jumping a little at the thought of seeing Haruka fully exposed, then thought better of it. The way Haruka had glared at him in the bedroom he doubted very much he was open to being ogled at just yet. 

He turned away and left the room.

* * *

Haru submerged himself into the cool water of the water of the tepidarium, holding his breath for as long as he could and hoping even in this strange land it would have the same power to calm him, to quiet his mind. 

He welcomed the slight pain, the blankness of the buzz that came as his body slowly started to fight against him, before finally he was forced to kick to the surface and reemerge gasping. 

As he gathered his breath back he glared at the painted walls, at the lavish decoration. It was nothing like the wild freedom of the sea. More like a goldfish pond. 

He wondered if this was how he was to spend his days now. Swimming pointless circles and being stared at like he had grown a second head.

He sighed and kicked off, starting up a slow, lazy stroke, back and forth, back and forth. Despite the limitations of the space, he slowly felt his breathing calm and some semblance of focus return to him. 

He felt like he had been running on adrenaline for days. The long uncomfortable journey, trapped in a carriage or litter and only allowed to stretch his legs under the gaze of the guards. Then there was the small matter of being dumped into this strange land and being delivered to the dais as if he were just another offering - a bronzed bowl or a particularly fancy spear - to this Prince of Samezuka. Or his husband now he supposed. 

Haruka paused at this and flipped onto his back, floating and staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. 

_Husband._

The Prince Matsuoka was different to how he expected. Younger, louder and far more prone to outward displays of emotion than Haru’s own brothers or father. 

It didn’t make sense. He’d been led to believe the Samezukii were cold, ruthless people who fought and fucked and existed with little thought for anything beyond themselves. Prince Rin did not match those expectations. 

Back at home the rumours had been that he was a ferocious thing to behold, with teeth like a beast and the red eyes of a spirit of the underworld. That his father had been known to lead bands of men to rape and pillage the lands around him, and that his son was poised to be just as bad. Haru had tried not to listen - it wasn't like he was given any choice in the matter - but he had refused to so much as glance at the betrothal portrait sent to him just in case the rumours were true. 

He should have known better. Makoto was the one still scared of stories, not him. And it hadn’t taken more than a few moments to work out most of what he had heard so far was fiction. 

Standing at the dais, his first impression of his now husband had been one of gentleness. It was there in the way he had held Haru’s hand in his palm, the way he had failed to hide his shudder at the ritual slaughter, the way he had kissed him so softly that their lips had barely touched. 

Then of course there had been the way that he had stuttered and blushed like a maiden in the bedchamber before sleeping curled into himself like a child, keeping as much space between them as possible when he could have just as easily ordered Haru out of his bed entirely. 

The courtiers in Iwatobi would have eaten Rin alive he thought ruefully. 

And so he knew he should be feeling grateful really. He had been led to believe he could expect much worse than he had been faced with so far, and he could see clearly that Prince Matsuoka had been doing his best to make an intolerable situation … tolerable. To make him feel comfortable and at ease. 

And yet….

First impressions aside, this foreign Princeling was the reason he had been forced to leave his home all the same, and Haru found he couldn't forgive him that. 

True he had never had any interest in a wife, but he felt he could have tolerated one if it had meant a quiet life, so when he’d been instructed it was time for him to marry he had been crestfallen but not inconsolable. He had known it would be solely for appearances and connections, and that he was not required to deliver heirs, and so as long as he could still swim and fish and paint and read and see Makoto each day, he felt he could surrender to the expectations of his station. 

But then Prince Matsuoka Rin had had to go and change the rules of engagement, and Haruka had found instead of a young woman being delivered to him for marriage, he was instead the one forced to pack up and leave everything he knew, to spend weeks travelling by land and sea on the whim of this future King. 

It made no sense. He was hardly a prize. A fourth son with no real power or influence or connection beyond that inherited by his name, there was no reason at all why an heir to a throne would consider him useful. As it was, within his home court it was well known he had no interest in politics or soldiering or women, and so he was mostly overlooked and left to his own devices. The gossip about him could be cruel at times, but he had his own small group of loyal friends and attendants and so he had no interest or need to sway the fickle masses of court. He had forged a certain freedom too, through this relative obscurity, and over the years he had found if he dressed as a commoner and covered his hair he could pass through the streets and villages of Iwatobi relatively unnoticed. He could almost feel normal. 

Needless to say his father, the King, had been delighted when the counter offer from Samezuka had arrived. That their strange, awkward son had by some stroke of luck caught them a King. 

There had been no discussion. No debate. The date was set, his things packed by his servants and with little fanfare he was sent away. 

He hadn't even been allowed to bring his closest attendants, his only real friends. His father insisting that the Matsuoka’s were rich enough to fund Haru’s retinue, and so Makoto and Rei had been left behind.

And so, even though this Prince Matsuoka was no demon, even though his eyes were kind not fierce, and his toothy smile was somehow disarming rather than alarming, Haru couldn't help but feel a surge of anger, of despair at all he had lost. His freedom, his friends, his familiar life. 

So he didn’t want to get to know about Rin’s favorite sports and foods and entertainments. It didn’t matter if Rin was kind. If he looked at Haru with hope. He could have been the greatest Prince in all the lands and he wouldn’t ever measure up to everything Haru had been forced to give up. 

And so he stayed in the baths, thankfully, gratefully alone, and closed his eyes and tried to make believe he was back in the pools and shallows of the Iwatobi sea. Makoto somewhere on the shore waiting for him. Rei worrying about the cold or about sharks. The sun on his face and the promise of a trip into town to meet with Nagisa and Ikuya. 

* * *

The meeting with councillor Trajan took longer than Rin anticipated, and once it was done he was cornered rapidly by another of the palace advisors who wished to talk about how Samezuka was to protect its relationship with the bordering royal houses now that they _‘had one of the enemy in our midst’_. 

The hours flew by, debating policy and making arrangements for the next round of state visits, and by the time he was done there was barely time to have his servants help him wash and change before it was time for dinner. 

He was therefore somewhat surprised, when he finally had a moments pause, to find Haruka had at no point sent someone to notify him of his movements. 

He waved Aii over and spoke softly, wanting to keep the news that he had lost his own husband so soon contained. 

“Aii do you know where the Prince Haruka is?”

Aii flushed lightly, as he often did when taken into Rin’s confidence. “I believe he is in the baths your highness. I can send someone to summon him?”

“The baths?” Rin blinked. He had left him there when the sun was still rising, and now it was well into its descent. Could it possibly be Haruka had stayed there all that time? 

“Aii, I would like for you to go and seek him out. Ask that he meet me here so that we may walk to dinner together. I would like to show him the gardens at least today.” 

Aii bowed and hurried off, chest puffed out with pride at the task. 

When he returned not too long after his posture could not have been more different - shoulders slumped and head bowed. He reached Rin’s side and his voice came out thin. 

“Your Highness, forgive me I have failed you. The Prince will not come. He sends word that he is not hungry and will retire for the evening.” Aii’s eyes shone as if the rejection was his own to bear. 

Rin froze momentarily. This was not usual. The royalty almost always dined in view of the court, Rin’s father believing it was important for harmony and unity that meals were taken together. A tradition Rin was determined to uphold. 

He swallowed down his disquiet and worked to keep his voice even. 

“Thank you Aii. I will dine with my mother and the Princess. Please send word that Haruka’s chair should be removed and have the kitchens send a plate to my chambers with the best food, water and wine in case he becomes hungry in the night.” 

As Aii left he turned as examined his reflection in the bronzed mirror. Could it be that Haruka had been so disappointed already by what he saw in him? Or perhaps he was angry that Rin had abandoned him on their very first day together? 

Rin sighed, unsure he would blame him if he was. He hadn’t anticipated failing quite so spectacularly at being married on his very first day. He would have to do better. Much better. 

* * *

Rin dined alone, wilfully ignoring the questioning glances and whispers of his court. Gou’s eyes were harder to avoid, and she cornered him as soon as there was a lull in the conversation around them.

“Rin, where is the Prince?”

“He was tired and not hungry, He has retired for the day.”

“Are you telling me the truth? If so it's a poor excuse. This is his new home, his new people. He should be here letting them get to know him.”

“Sister give him time. This is a big adjustment for us all. I’m sure all will be well.”

Gou frowned, tilting her head .“And you - are you well brother? Has he been kind to you?” 

Rin paused unsure how to answer the question. Haruka had not been unkind. In fact he had barely been much of anything at all when it came to Rin. 

“It has been a busy day.” He finally answered. “I am sure we will spend more time together tomorrow.”

He flicked his eyes up and noted his mother was looking on, silent but the concern in her expression clear. He delivered her a bright smile to try and reassure her, and spent the rest of the meal talking and laughing animatedly with all that were around, staying as late as he could bear in a bid to demonstrate to his people that all was well. 

That night he slept in his study. 

It was not unheard of for him to work late into the night and he felt it would be less commented on than his need to request a second set of chambers prepared. He knew he couldn’t put it off forever, but he wasn’t ready for the fiction of his marriage to be exposed so soon. 

_“It’s not real”_ Haruka had said. 

Rin thought of him. Of the ways his eyes had flashed at those who would stare at him, at the grace with which he moved. At the way his eyes had shone when presented to the baths. 

He wanted for it to be real. 

As he huddled into the soft chaise lounge, he wondered if Haruka had received the food. If he was asleep. If he felt safe. He held the image of him curled up in Rin’s own bed in his mind as he tried to surrender to sleep. 

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, before Haruka could escape to the baths, Rin in a fit of bravery reached to clasp his wrist and requested that he join him for his weekly public forum. He knew he would have almost no time to himself that day, no option to move his schedule, and he was entirely unwilling to spend another whole day apart so early on in their marriage. 

Haruka seemed initially unimpressed by the request, mouth tipping down at the corners, but conceded to it after Rin hurriedly promised him they would visit the baths as soon as they were done. 

And so they sat together in the main gardens canopied from the sun as Rin received members of the surrounding towns and villages who sought his advice. It had been a task his father had done before him, his mother after that with Rin at her side, and that Rin had himself only taken on alone in the last two years as he prepared to ascend the throne. 

People lined up for hours at the chance for an audience with Rin, and it was his opportunity to hear direct from the people he was soon to rule how they experienced life in Samezuka. People came for all range of matters - some asking for help with family matters, advice on farming their land, or who simply wished to come and give thanks. 

It was normally one of Rin’s favourite days - he enjoyed getting to know his people immensely, to get to see a glimpse of life beyond his court. It was also something he knew he was rather good at, having garnered much praise for his firm but fair way of dealing with the complaints and arguments that frequently came to him and, secretly, Rin had hoped he might win some favour with Haruka if he saw him dealing successfully with some tricky legal matters or high stakes quarrels. 

But after the third or fifth minor dispute about cattle was settled Rin was starting to feel his chance of impressing his new husband evaporate. At various times throughout the morning he could have sworn he felt Haruka’s eyes on him, but every time he turned they were directed away. In fact, after one particularly lengthy debate over grazing rights was finally concluded when he snuck a glance over at Haruka he looked close to nodding off to sleep in the midday warmth. 

He knew that Iwatobi traditionally considered Samezuka nothing more than glorified farmers - despite the growing wealth they so coveted - and Rin feared the day was doing nothing to dispel that view in Haruka’s eyes. 

He signalled over to his guard and hissed “Are there no more pressing matters to discuss? Disputes to settle?”  
  
The guard looked down at the list awkwardly, unwilling to let down his Crown Prince. “There is an old woman who says her grandson is shirking his work for the family in favour of visiting the tavern’s and gaming halls? She would like you to speak to him about the importance of family.”  
  
Rin sighed. It was his duty, and one he was usually glad to do, but selfishly he had hoped for something a little more exciting that could better show his skills as a leader.  
  
“Send them forward” he conceded, sneaking another glance at Haruka who appeared to have roused a little but was once more worrying at his ring in a way that made Rin’s stomach tighten. 

The dispute between grandmother and son, while ridiculous, was surprising vicious, and when Rin had finally mediated a truce between them he turned and was surprised to find Haruka gone from his seat, having seemingly reached past the point of boredom that he could endure. 

He was crouched on the ground a few paces away, showing a small group of children who had broken from the line a slip of scroll he seemed to have procured from the pile intended for recording Rin’s mediations. Rin held up a palm to signal a pause in proceedings and then walked over. The childered scattered, shy of him, and Haruka looked up confused at the interruption. 

Rin saw that on the parchment in his hand was a series of clever little likenesses of animals. Haruka made as if to crumple it, but Rin gestured smiling. 

“Did you draw these?” 

Hesitantly, Haruka nodded, rising to stand and flipping his hair from his eyes in a way that made Rin’s throat catch a little. 

“The Prince Haruka drew us all a creature. He picked one for each of us that suited us best. I’m a wren - see? Um, your highness” 

A brave little boy, his sister hiding behind him piped up, then executed a clumsy bow, blushing purple at having Rin’s attention on him. 

Rin laughed. “A wren? Is that so? A fine bird.” He turned to Haruka. “Well your highness, would you draw something for me? Which creature suits me best?” 

Haruka hesitated, then nodded slowly, pulling a fresh piece of parchment from his sleeve and crouching down. The children flocked back to him, whispering and giggling as he set his inked calamus to paper. It was a fast sketch, and soon he was handing the parchment back to Rin, this time filled with an impressively detailed image. Rin unrolled it where it had become curled, curious to see which animal Haruka had picked. 

It was a large fish-like creature with vicious teeth. 

Rin felt his shoulder slump and he raised a hand absently to his mouth. He had read about these sorts of things. Monsters of the sea that would eat a man alive.

The children squeaked in alarm at the drawing and scattered, leaving them stood alone.

Rin had never really been self conscious of his teeth - he took after his father and was always strangely proud of the likeness - but in Haruka’s presence he recalled some of the less kind things that he heard said about that particular trait outside of the safety of Samezuka and felt himself crumple a little. 

Haruka was looking at him intently, a small line of worry having formed between his brows. 

“You do not like it? I have offended you?”

Rin tried to shake off his disappointment and let out a small laugh. “Not at all. It’s an excellent drawing. You are very talented. And I suppose with these -” he gestured lightly to his teeth “it’s only natural that you would think of …this. I suppose you must find them rather terrible.”

Haruka shook his head, sudden and insistent. “They are not terrible.” He plucked the parchment back from Rin’s hand and crouched again, with a few quick scratches the creature was transformed, its jaws suddenly flicked up to resemble a smile. 

He handed it to back to Rin who looked down at it bemused. 

“They call it a shark. They have them in the seas of Iwatobi. Sometimes they come into the bay but not often. They are very clever creatures and excellent swimmers. Men are only afraid of them that do not understand them.” Then slowly, almost reluctantly as if giving away some prized information. “They...they have always been one of my favorites.”

Rin looked with surprise at the bright of Haruka’s gaze, how it seemed to burn into him. He curled the paper up into his hand feeling suddenly warm all over with it.

“Then I will cherish it. Thank you Haruka.”

Rin returned to his duties, the line of people who wished to speak with him seemingly unending, but all through the afternoon he played the piece of parchment through his hand, occasionally turning to glance at the figure who stayed silently beside him. 

* * *

As the line finally reduced, and the day’s work ended, Sousuke arrived to collect the stack of mediations to be recorded in the official records and escort Rin back to the palace proper. 

He handed Rin a goatskin of fresh cool water, and Rin drunk deeply, grateful, his throat dry and a little sore from so much speaking. As he did so, Sousuke’s eyes roved to where Haruka was stood a little way off, gazing at the retreating line of people exiting through the main gate, still twisting the ring around his finger. 

“Will the Prince Haruka dine with us tonight?” He asked, voice low. 

Rin paused, then answered slowly. “I do not know. I will ask him.” 

Sousuke shifted a little awkwardly. “Rin... I know you are not going to want to hear this. But it is my duty to tell you. The court is already starting to talk. His absence at dinner last night was well noted and not well received. His quietness … if Haruka is going to be accepted here he needs to be seen to make an effort. And there is whispering among the servants that you slept apart last night?”

Rin sighed, annoyed at the predictable speed at which gossip travelled, and rose from his seat to pull Sousuke to the side, away from where prying ears might hear them. 

“Sousuke he is alone and far from home. Is it not to be expected he may take some time to adjust to life here? And where I sleep is nobody’s business but my own. The court presumes too much by taking such an interest in this. I am to be their King and they must respect my privacy.”

“Rin, that's a pretty idea but you know as well as I you don’t have any privacy. What is personal to you is political to them. He comes from our enemy, so we must work to make them see him as a friend, do you understand? The fact he does not speak to anyone - that he is barely seen to speak to you is winning him no favour. They will not stand idle to see him treat their prince this way.”

Rin thrust out a hand with the parchment. “But look, he drew this for me. Does that not show he has warmed to me a little already? He just needs more time.”

Sousuke stared at the picture then wiped a hand over his face, eyebrows twitching with barely suppressed anger. “Rin that is one of the ugliest monsters I have ever seen. Why would he give you such a thing? He is mocking you!” 

“No it's not a monster it’s a … a _shark._ ” Rin suddenly felt foolish that he could not recall why Haruka’s words had made him feel so warm inside. Maybe it hadn’t been his words at all, only the way he had looked at him as if it mattered that Rin like his picture. 

But perhaps Sousuke was right. Perhaps he was being made a fool. The idea stung and Sousuke must have noticed him wilt, as his next words were delivered more gently, joined by a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

“Rin, just see that he understands he must be present at dinner. Do not ask him, tell him. It is best coming from you.”

Rin sighed and looked from the strange drawing to the quiet figure. 

“I understand Sousuke. I’ll tell him.” 

* * *

Haru was in his chambers when Rin came to see him. 

_Not his chambers_ , he reminded himself, _Rin’s._ He wondered why as yet he had not been asked to move elsewhere. Cautiously he had barred the servants from fully unpacking his things, preferring instead to dip in and out of his trunks. 

He’d also so far refused to so much as glance at any of the chests that held Rin’s belongings. The less he knew the better, he thought, unsure exactly what he was protecting himself from. 

It was bad enough he had exposed himself with his silly scribblings earlier that day. His father would have lectured him most severely if he’d been caught drawing during official palace business. That he had unwittingly insulted the future King at the same time seemed to be putting himself at unnecessary risk. He needed to be more careful. To keep his head down if he was to survive here. 

The image of how crestfallen Rin had looked at first at the picture drifted into his mind's eye, bringing with it a strange tightness in his stomach. He hadn’t meant to be cruel. Hadn’t expected that Rin would care what he drew, thought he was just humouring him for the gathered crowd.

 _He’s sensitive._ His mind supplied. _Too sensitive really. How is he expected to survive being King?_

His musing was cut short though by the entry of the man himself, dressed in a chiton of rich blue that he didn't seem to realise made his hair stand out rather alarmingly. Rin gestured for the servants to leave them. 

“Did you enjoy the baths again Haruka?” He smiled, arms swinging a little before he seemed to settle on clasping them behind his back. 

Haru nodded, and thought with some regret that he’d been forced into leaving by the hunger gnawing at his belly. He’d hoped he might have had some food delivered to his room again, but so far nothing had appeared and he couldn’t bring himself to ask. 

“Good. good. That’s er… good.” Rin repeated nonsensically, then ran his hand through his hair in a gestured that made it stick up and look even more alarming. 

“I am come to ask you to join me tonight at dinner. Well, not to ask to… it is important you see. It’s the way things are done here. You must join us.” 

Haruka felt himself tense right away. He tried to control his tone. “I do not wish to eat in the hall. I would take my meals here.”

He braced himself for a fight.

Instead Rin stepped forward and sat on the corner of the bed, perching as if worried he would upset Haru even though by all rights the room was his own and knotting his hands in his lap. He looked suddenly very young for somebody about to take on a throne. 

“Is something wrong Haruka? Have I offended you? I know we… I know our wedding night was… but….”

And for some reason Haruka couldn't bring himself to keep witnessing Rin’s flailing for an answer, so surprised himself by blurting out, “They all stare at me.”

“What?” Rin looked as surprised as Haru felt. He hadn’t meant to say that. 

“They stare at me. I do not like it.” He repeated stiffly, looking away. 

He waited to be mocked, or for Rin to tell him he was being childish, but instead he heard a rustle of cloth and suddenly Rin was stood beside him, his hand coming to rest very lightly on his shoulder. 

“They want to get to know you. That is all.” he reassured. “ _I_ would like to get to know you.” 

Haru started to speak, his lips forming the words to ask why, before he was cut off by Rin carrying on speaking hurriedly, his words running together in a rush.

“You must know that you are beautiful. And that your colouring - your eyes - it is not common here. Once they are used to seeing you around the palace they will not stare so much. I swear it. Come and sit by my side. Show them that you are not put off by them and they will welcome you. The court is… they are nosy. And I will not lie to you not all supported this match. But they are not cruel and they will not treat you unkindly. You are my husband Haruka, you belong at my side and you should not feel you have to lock yourself away.”

Haru turned to meet Rin’s gaze, blinking in surprise. He was suddenly aware of how close they were. How urgent and open Rin’s gaze was, the warmth of the hand on his shoulder sending little prickles of heat down his arm. 

_You are beautiful._

He stepped away sharply and wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing his limbs to try and remove the sensation. 

For a moment Rin’s expression crumpled, looking dejected, and so before Haru realised what was happening he was nodding. “I will come to dinner.” 

He couldn’t understand it. 

He had had no intention of agreeing to such a thing, and yet somehow when faced with Rin’s disappointment the wrong words had come out of his mouth and he found himself agreeing. 

He tried to take it back, but something in the warmth of Rin’s smile caused the words to die before they could form. 

“Thank you Haruka. That means a lot to me.” 

_I would like to get to know you._

Haru swallowed and turned away. _No._ He thought in return. _No, that’s not what I want. I want to return home._

He resolved himself to stay on guard. 

* * *

Despite Haruka agreeing to be present at dinner that night, and more of the subsequent evenings than not, things did not materially improve in the weeks to come. 

Samezuka was a mainly arid land, and Rin’s father had taught him it was important that they always had adequate stores of food so that they could never be held hostage to trade. This meant that the current short spring season was one of Rin’s busiest times as he and his council worked hard to ensure that adequate plans and provisions were in place for the burning summer and dry winters. 

While he was only eligible to ascend to the throne at 21, Rin had always remembered what his father told him - Kings might be born, but good Kings were forged - and so he had always been diligent in his determination not to let him down, dedicating every waking moment to becoming the best ruler he could be. Rin had steadily been taking on more and more duties over the years until, at the age of 20, his mother was ruler in name only. 

The unfortunate result however, was that his days were regularly so busy that unless he instructed Haruka to sit by his side - an act he knew brought Haruka very little entertainment and left him distracted by Haruka’s clear boredom - they would barely see each other outside of formal meals when the eyes of the court were fixed upon them so that every word, every movement, felt unnaturally weighted by the scrutiny. 

And while it privately concerned Rin deeply how little time he had to dedicate to his new spouse, he was long out of the habit of considering his desires before his duties. It kept him from sleep though. The thought that he was headed toward a marriage with very little affection, let alone love.

It was not that he had not tried at all. 

There has been the morning that he had decided to forgo his usual meeting and travel instead directly to the baths where he knew Haruka liked to spend his time. 

He had, as expected, found him floating in the coolest of the pools.

He had stripped quickly, trying not to feel too conscious of his nakedness in front of his husband and slipped into the water beside him. 

Haruka had started, and rolled onto his stomach, planting his feet on the ground and staring at him expressionless. 

“Uh, hello.” Rin had grinned, trying to remember what to do with his limbs. “I noticed you spend most of your mornings here. I thought I would join you.”

Haruka had blinked at him, then replied slowly. “I come here for the quiet. For the solitude.”  
  
“Oh me too!” Rin had agreed readily, and unfortunately missing Haruka’s point entirely. “Sometimes it all gets too much and it’s nice to get some quiet.”  
  
Haruka in response had simply, gracefully, jumped out of the water, thrown on his chiton over still damp skin and walked away, leaving Rin to sink into the water deflated, with not even the time to sulk before he was needed in his next meeting. 

Then there were the notes. 

Rin sent Haruka countless messages throughout the days in the hopes he might reply, or even come seek him out. But he never did. 

Rin wouldn’t quite have called them love notes - they were mainly updating him on his whereabouts - but he tried to slip in a few pleasantries at least. Sometimes the odd joke about his day. 

It was all for nought. Haruka never even showed any sign he had received them when they came together for meals.

Haruka in fact, made no sense to him at all. He had embraced some aspects of his new life in Samezuka seemingly wholeheartedly - quickly adopting the style of dress, weary light tunics and chitons that left his arms and legs bare and Rin trying not to blush when he looked on him. He seemed to enjoy the music, watching rapt anytime there were players at dinner (Rin had made a mental note of this and immediately increased their frequency) - while other aspects he refused to engage with outright. Turning away at most of the food, shunning the court outside of their meals together and showing no interest in finding allies. For the most part he seemed determined to keep himself locked away in his rooms or in the baths.

The end result was that by the time he and Haruka had been married a month they were barely more acquainted than they had been on their wedding day. 

And Rin knew too the gossip was becoming worse - that people had noted that the Prince Haruka opted to avoid almost all place engagements, that he was barely seen with Rin outside of meals, and that it was unfortunately now common knowledge they kept to separate rooms - and he felt helpless to prevent it. 

Then there was the small matter of Rin’s own feelings. Despite the awkwardness still between them, Rin had lost none of his initial desire for Haruka. In fact the opposite was true, as he felt himself becoming quietly more besotted every day. Haruka fascinated him, his grace, his quietness, the steely undercurrent than ran below that cool exterior, and after all those weeks and months with Haruka’s portrait, he couldn’t shift the firm believe they were made somehow to be together. His heart told him so - as it jumped every time he caught a glimpse of him. How it stuttered and beat out of rhythm any time they were sat close, any time one of his remarks was able to provoke a response, even if it was only a look. 

And Haruka did look at him. Not always - he still often looked down or away when addressed - but more and more often Rin found himself the subject of that impossible blue gaze. Something in the depths that would cause Rin crack under its intensity until he became the one most likely to defect. 

It gave him some hope, thin and delicate as it might be, and he determined he would find some way to break the strange habit of stiffness and silence that they had fallen into.

* * *

As it was, things came somewhat to a head on their own. 

Rin was in the midst of yet another long and dry council meeting when Aii burst through the doors, just about remembering to execute a hasty bow before he blurted out.

“Your Highness, please come right away. The Prince Nanase has been apprehended trying to escape over the gate.”

Rin’s mouth dropped open and the room broke out into angry muttering. Just managing to fight for his composure he held a hand up for silence, and stood with as much dignity as he could muster. 

“I will see to this. Sousuke will act on my behalf until I return. Continue as we were.”

Aii led him through the palace and out to the main gardens - the ones in which they had been married and which acted as the main entrypoint to the palace - there, just off from the main gate and by one of the decorative fountains, Rin could see a small crowd gathered. 

Aii announced him, a path automatically clearing and Rin tried to process the scene he was met with - Haruka sat looking thunderous with his wrists rudimentarily bound, while Momo and Asahi stood over him, swords unsheathed. 

“Your Highness.” They bowed low, then Momo puffed out his chest, “We caught him trying to escape. We stopped him though, didn’t we Kisumi?”

Rin looked between the pair and Haruka, brows twitching in annoyance. Asahi had the good sense to suddenly stare at the ground as Aii was doing. Momo however carried on blithely unaware. 

“He’s fast too your highness. He almost got away. But I’m faster. My brother’s been training me.” 

Finally Rin sighed and spoke very slowly, clearly annunciating each word. 

“Momo, did you mean to tell me you have placed Prince Nanase under arrest, Prince Nanase of Iwatobi and Samezuka both?”

Momo suddenly faltered.

“I … your Highness he was trying to _escape_.” 

“And so you thought to arrest a member of this Royal household. My very own husband?”

Momo got the message. He threw himself prostrate on the ground mumbling apologies. Asahi followed rapidly. 

Rin sighed. They were good guards. Some of his most promising, only sometimes a little too zealous in their wish to impress him. 

“Get up and release him. It is done with. Now leave us. All of you.” 

Babbling their thanks, and bowing and apologising profusely to Haruka as they cut his bounds, the pair made themselves quickly scarce, Aii trailing after with Rin’s instruction to inform the council it had been a mix up and he’d rejoin them shortly. 

Once sure they were alone Rin turned to Haruka, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, expression flat but eyes bright with anger. 

Rin moved to sit next to him, and spoke kindly, “Haruka, can you tell me the meaning of this?”

Haruka looked away. 

“Haruka I am deeply sorry. Momo is enthusiastic. He means no harm or insult. His brother is one of my greatest generals. He is learning still. But I must ask, what were you thinking trying to leave alone without telling anyone where you were going.”

Haruka snapped back to him suddenly. “I used to do it all the time at home. Besides, if I am not a prisoner here, why should I not leave the palace?”

“You... you did?” It was the first thing Haruka had shared about his home. And Rin realised he’d never much asked. He swallowed heavily feeling suddenly guilty. So concerned had he been with what Haruka thought of _his_ home, that he was enjoying it, that he had barely thought to ask about his life in Iwatobi. 

“Haruka I am sorry. Truly. But things are a little different here. As my husband it may not always be safe for you to travel alone. Samezuka may be peaceful but this land has been known to attract mercenaries who come seeking our riches. I do not want you to be harmed - why did you not speak to me? I can provide you with guards. Or even accompany you.”

Haruka’s mouth flattened. He thrust a piece of parchment towards Rin. He recognised it as one of his own notes. 

“You sent word you are busy. You always send word you are busy.” 

Rin was rendered speechless with surprise as he looked at the words written in his own looping hand. Could it really be that Haruka had misunderstood the intention of his notes? 

_And Wait,_ did that mean there was a chance Haruka wanted for him _not_ to be busy... actually wanted to see him? Rin allowed himself to be distracted by the thought and almost missed that Haruka had carried on. 

“I did not think you would care if I went. Or am I to spend my days walking the halls of your palace only?”

“Haruka that’s not... I”

Rin didn’t know what to say. Things had taken a very wrong turn very quickly. 

“Haruka I care. Of course I do. And I am sorry. I have neglected you…. I don’t know how to be married either, ok? I’m trying. What can I do to make this up to you? What do you want?”

Haruka was silent. His face expressionless, but Rin could see he was thinking. 

“Perhaps I can take you on a tour of the lands? Show you Samezuka properly? I suppose you got little chance as you travelled here. Please, what can I do to help?”

A slight flush rose over Haruka’s cheeks, soft and lovely, but when he finally opened his mouth he spoke with a flat tone. “You can leave me be. I don’t wish to be watched every waking moment. And when we are together they only stare at me more. It is bothersome and I do not like it.” 

Before Rin could think to reply, Haruka stood, turned and stormed away. 

* * *

Haru sunk into the bath stewing in his own unrest. The Prince unsettled him in a way he couldn't fully explain. His keenness that they twine their lives together even though everyone knew the arrangement between them was political only... it made no sense. He felt he could have coped better with disinterest or even dislike. This… prodding sort of kindness. It unbalanced him. 

He scowled thinking of the shame of being held by the guards in full view of anyone who might care to pass. As if they didn’t already think strangely enough of him. The enemy Prince sent to them, now they thought he was a flight risk. And he hadn’t even been trying to escape. His plans hadn’t got that far. He had just wanted to see something else. Be somewhere else. Someone else for a little while. 

_Great Prince Rin. Shining Prince Rin. Brilliant Prince Rin._

It was all Haru heard as he drifted around the palace. Lost and directionless and far from home. 

It should have been insufferable. He didn’t entirely understand why it wasn’t. He was annoyed, yes. Angry and unsatisfied at his situation, absolutely. But it had started to seem somewhat wrong to direct that at Rin. And that in itself was bothersome. 

His time with Rin confused him. He still dreaded mealtimes, or any event that forced him to be at the eyes of the court, and yet there was something about Rin that made him hard to dismiss or ignore outright as had been his original plan. 

He played over in his mind what he had learned about his husband so far. 

He talked a lot. Too much one might argue. He liked eating meat, always picking those dishes first. He spoke more than one of the local dialects fluently, and several more in passing. He knew the law well enough to only rarely call on his legal advisors.

He was thoughtful - mere days after he’d given Rin the crudely scratched drawing Haru had returned to his rooms to find a set of the finest pigments, brushes and parchment provided to him.

He got very excited anytime there were players at dinner and seemed very keen that Haru enjoy them too (though he always tried to hide this). He was diligent in his duties, writing copious notes in all his meetings in a meticulous hand even though there were scribes tasked with performing this duty for him. He didn’t appear to lie or scheme. At least not that Haru had been privy too. He treated his staff well, to the point that the grey haired boy was almost too familiar with him in Haru’s opinion. And when he said he would perform a task, he did it, even though it meant he often had little time outside of his duties.

He was poised and measured in public, and yet almost too much in private. Words and emotions seeming to leak and spill from him as if he were bursting at the seams….

….Haru frowned, as he realised he had been paying a lot more attention to Rin than he thought. Especially considering he was somebody he was trying to avoid having anything much to do with. 

He’d never met anyone like Rin before. And he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. 

* * *

Rin leaned his head against his desk exhausted. 

As if having to deal with the escape attempt the day before from his by now clearly-unwilling-husband hadn’t been enough, he’d had to spend the subsequent day trapped in council as they fell once more to arguing about matters of succession. 

Considering that Rin was still contending with how to get his husband to stand to be in the same room as him, it seemed a little early to be being asked if they would consider accepting one of the offers that were apparently flowing in from local highborn families to have their daughters act as ‘vessels’ for the next in the royal line, or indeed to decide if he would prefer for the lineage to pass via Gou. 

Trying to avoid his sister’s choices being tied to matters of state was what had got him here in the first place so he was hardly willing to have her future co-opted again, and yet he was equally unhappy at being asked to entertain lying with a strange woman before he had even so much as kissed his husband properly. 

And oh how he wanted to kiss Haruka, he thought mournfully, distracted suddenly by the way his lips had pursed when he had pouted unhappy at being detained on his flight away from the palace.

_Away from you_

Rin’s brain supplied. 

He groaned to himself miserably, and would have have gotten quite into the melodrama of it were it not for the barest of knocks at the door that pre warned of Gou’s entry. 

“I spent the afternoon with Prince Haruka.” she announced, taking very little note of Rin’s hunched over form or the papers she spilled as she flopping down onto the desk at his side.

“I like him.”

Rin looked up, equal parts surprised and relieved. “You do? Everyone else seems to find him strange.”

“Oh he is strange.” Gou remarked lightly. “But I think it’s the good kind.” 

“Oh.” That was confusing. 

“What did you do together?” Rin asked, unable to hide the slight twinge of jealousy that his sister had apparently managed to get closer to his husband than he had. 

“We talked mostly. I showed him the gardens. He liked the butterflies. He said they reminded them of his friend. And the fountains, though he caused a bit of a stir by almost jumping into them. Sousuke practically had to wrestle him to stop him.” She laughed at the memory. “He seems to like the water. You should take him to father’s oasis.”

Rin slapped his head and cursed himself for not thinking of it himself before. “Of course. All that time in baths. I didn’t even consider...”

Then a sudden more pressing thought interrupted. “Did he… did he ask about me?”

“No.” Gou admitted, then grinned. “But I told him anyway.” 

“Oh…” Rin stifled the disappointment. “And what did you say?”

Gou leaned over and ruffled his hair. “Nothing I can very well repeat to you without giving you a big head. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to call you King one day.”

Rin smiled and leaned slightly into the affection. “You are a good sister.”

“And you are a good man. He’ll see it soon enough…” she paused the motion of her hand. “I think you could be happy with him brother. In time. I hope you will be. He’s… gentler than I expected. Sheltered somehow. I think he might just need a little more time to open up to his life here. To you.” 

Rin frowned lightly. “But how long… how long does it take someone to fall in love?” 

Gou carried on stroking his hair. “I do not know. I suppose it takes how long it takes.”

And Rin felt his heart pulse, its own little protestation that it knew very well how long it had taken for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the lovely and encouraging response to the first chapter. Sorry this one took so long - It got so massive I ended up splitting it in half and then into thirds and its still almost 12k words…urgh. Oh well. Up goes the chapter count.... This AU is really so very out of my comfort zone and as a result I really don't think this chapter is particularly my best writing, but I’m quite excited to get to some of the plot points I have mapped out so I am going to persevere. I don’t often ask outright for comments, but if you have enjoyed or indeed if you have any tips for how I can make this better I would love to hear from you as I am feeling extra unsure about this fic at the moment.
> 
> (also, I have no beta so huge apologies. I have tried to proof this but will try and come back to fix any remaining mistakes once I've had a little time away from it)


	3. III: Incrementum

At the earliest opportunity Rin had Aii clear a morning in his schedule, delegating what he could to Sousuke and promising to see to the rest the very next day.

He rose early and burst into his chambers - Haruka’s chambers - while the sky was still inky. Unsurprisingly he found Haruka still in bed, distractingly rumpled and rubbing his eyes in confusion.

“What---? What’s going on?”

“Come, I’ve something to show you today.”

“I'm going to the baths.” Haruka mumbled, sounding very much still half asleep. 

Rin sighed. He should have anticipated that response.

“Forget the baths for today. Please. I promise it will be worth it. If you like water as much as you say you won't want to miss this. I’ll show you a sight you’ve never seen before.”

Haruka seemed to perk a little at that, his blue eyes lifting, curious.

“A sight I’ve never seen?”

He allowed Rin to rouse him enough to lead him down to the stables.

“We’ll go by camel.” Rin explained, leading Haruka away from the horses and toward a small paddock at the back that housed a number of camels. “We’ll be less obvious that way. Camels are more common among my people than horses.”

Haruka eyed Rin curiously as he covered his bright hair and most of his face with a length of material, leaving only his eyes exposed. Rin held our a second wrap, gesturing for Haruka to do the same.

He looked at it suspiciously and raised his brows.

“To allow us to pass unnoticed.” Rin explained.

“But to pass to where?”

Rin only smiled and would not answer him.

He had his stable attendants open up the gates to the camels, and Rin favourite one - a female called Winnie - happily trotted over to receive an affectionate pat from her master.

Rin smiled and pointed out to an older female camel hanging a little way back. “That ones my sister’s. She will be a nice easy ride. It’s not all too different to a horse, but it can be a little strange at first if you are unused to it.”

But Haruka wasn’t looking to where he was pointing. He was looking past the little group in front of them toward a older, stubborn male kicking up dust in the back.

“What about that one?”

“Oh that? That’s Chappy. He hates everyone and won’t let anyone near him without spitting. I keep him because he was a gift from my sister before she knew better but…”

He trailed off watching as Haruka approached the irritable creature with his palm up. Chappy bent his head obligingly, allowing Haruka to stroke along his neck and to rub his ears.

“I would like to ride Chappy.” He declared.

“But…but have you ever ridden a camel before Haruka? Even Sousuke who thinks himself an expert cannot ride Chappy without being tossed to the ground.” Rin couldn’t help but look aghast. He had big plans for the day and they did not involve Haruka having his neck broken by the most stubborn of his rides.

He watched though as Haruka turned and his eye’s flashed, something of a challenge in the tilt of his chin as he insisted, “I would like to try.”

Rin sighed, bristling a little in annoyance. _Why couldn’t Haruka ever just make anything easy._

“Fine. On your head be it.” He motioned for the stable hands. “Bring Chappy’s saddle forward. It seems the Prince wishes to be thrown through the air for sport before we start our journey.”

Chappy kicked up the ususal fuss as the attendants dodged and danced about him, trying to set the blankets and saddle that would allow Haruka a comfortable seat without being kicked or spit at. Haruka watched this all calmly, occasionally stepping forward to speak soft words to the animal.

Rin was lost for words. He’d never seen Chappy to take to anyone, and frankly Haruka had hardly shown himself to be adept at winning friends. Yet, when the time came to mount their rides Chappy knelt obediently for Haruka and allowed him to swing up onto his back with all the grace of a rider who had been racing since their youth.

“Are you sure you have not ridden camels before?” Rin had to ask after he himself was mounted. Haruka’s seat was beautiful, straight backed and graceful.

Haruka arched a brow and Rin could have sworn he could see the slightest up turn of the corners of his mouth.

“As you said. It’s not all too different to a horse.”

Rin laughed, pleased, and found himself issuing the challenge. “Well, let’s just see if you can keep up.”

He was sure that time. Haruka almost smiled.

* * *

Two guards escorted them for the first hours ride that took them winding down and away from the palace. They did not head into the heart of Samezuka proper, but instead passed through the outskirts, riding hard until the sun had finally started its climb into the sky. The buildings rapidly fell away until they hit open land - barren and dusty, swept clear of vegetation or even sand, exposing only bare rock. 

They turned east, riding right into the sun, until at the pre-agreed spot Rin’s guards peeled off, setting out in opposite directions in a wide arc, sweeping the area as a patrol and leaving himself and Haruka riding onward alone.

The ground became more challenging, the rocky earth cracking and forcing them to zig and zag as they navigated outcroppings of stone.

Rin glanced at Haruka occasionally, but he didn’t seem to struggle on Chappy at all.

Rin was also watching to see his expression, waiting for the moment he would spot it. The moment that over the horizon the grey-browns of the rock would give way to lush green vegetation.

The oasis.

He felt himself speed up subconsciously as they neared, Haruka matching his pace seemingly with ease until they were as close to sprinting as they could manage on the tricky terrain; a race Rin wasn’t entirely sure wasn’t only in his head, but one he wanted to win all the same.

When they pulled up, panting, Rin dismounted gracefully and spread his arms wide.

“We made it, we’re here.”

Haruka stayed seated on Chappy, and while his face was mostly hidden by his scarf, Rin watched the way his eyes widened, the way the blue sparkled even bluer.

Rin knew the oasis was beautiful. A shock of colour hidden in the midst of a land that looked hostile and bare; bright greens of the plants and trees, the pinks and reds of the flowers, and the blue, blue, blue of the water, stretching far infront of them into a wide lake like sparkled in the morning sun as if it were comprised entirely of jewels.

“This… this is yours?” Haruka spoke softly, almost in awe as his finally swung down from Chappy, copying Rin in tying his reigns to a nearby branch and stepping toward the shore of the water.

“It is. The trade routes run far west of here so not many people know about it. The water is too rich in minerals to be drinkable and so it remained untapped. It was my father’s favourite place in all Samezuka. He and my mother used to come here when they wanted to escape the eyes of the palace. Then after Gou and I came along we’d come as a family until… well it's only really me that comes here now. My guards stay close of course, keep an eye on who’s approaching, but it's one of the only places I can be properly alone. Do you like it?”

Haruka was already tugging off his face wrap and loosening the tie to his chiton. “Can I swim in it?”

“Of course. Why do you think I brought you here?”

Haruka’s face broke out into the closest thing Rin thought he had seen to a real smile, and with alarming speed he divested himself of his clothing and ran, diving into the clear blue water.

Rin stayed, laughing to himself for a moment on the beach and watching as Haruka’s lithe body cut through the water. Among all this beauty, Haruka looked like he belonged.

Then, feeling his cheeks start to heat, he felt it indecent to stay staring much longer, and instead shed his own clothes and followed him, running with a broad smile into the cool blue. 

He was content to stay floating for a while, treading water and watching as Haruka twisted and dived and swam under the surface, only breaking through when he absolutely was forced to take more air.

Rin was enchanted, so he was admittedly caught a little off guard when Haruka surfaced next to him, flipping the damps tendrils of hair from his eyes and scrutinising Rin, a look of suspicion on his face.

“Why do you not swim? Can you not?”

Rin barked a short laugh.

“Can I swim? I’ll have you know I’m the fastest swimmer in all this region.”

Haruka looked at him a little doubtfully.

“Tsk, fine. I can see I’m going to have to show you. Follow me. Standing start. Let’s swim from here to the far bank.”

Rin motioned with his finger to where he meant. Haruka wrinkled his nose a little.

“It is a long way. Are you sure you can make it? I’d hate to find myself in trouble for causing the future King to drown.”

Rin blinked at him, a little shocked. His words were spoken lightly, nonchalantly, but there was something bright and mischievous in his gaze. _Was that a tease?_

He felt his face split into a broad grin.

“That’s it Iwatobi. Prepare to lose.”

* * *

The moment they dived Haru felt it. 

The water around him electrified, the thrill in his veins of truly swimming again, swimming hard. He could feel Rin in the water beside him and was quickly surprised he could keep up.

_No matter. Many people can start fast. He’d never be able to maintain it._

Haru kicked it up a notch, relishing the feel of the ache starting in his muscles as he truly pushed them for the first time after weeks of not much more than splashing about in the palace baths.

He felt Rin slip behind a little and felt a wash of satisfaction. _All cockiness after all. He couldn’t keep up._

He was wrong.

Barely a moment later Rin had sped up too, cutting through the water so that when Haru next turned to breathe they were shoulder to shoulder once more.

He could have sworn he saw Rin grin at him through the wake they created together. 

He grit his teeth and pushed harder, the water urging him, his heart pumping in his ears, his lungs burning and screaming at him.

He felt his fingers hit the sand of the far shore and pulled up to his knees gasping.

He turned to see Rin too was already on his knees panting next to him, cheeks flushed with exertion, water streaming from his chest and arms.

“Haruka you are _fast._ Where did you learn to swim like _that?_ ” he gasped between deep, shaking inhales, looking a little wide-eyed with surprise.

Haru stared back at him equally shocked. He’d never met anyone who could keep up with him. Makoto perhaps could have had a better chance of coming close if he hadn’t so hated to have his face under the water, but Rin…. Rin could keep up with him. Rin _almost beat him._

He couldn’t tear his eyes away, wordlessly looking at the man beside him as if seeing him for the first time.

Finally his breathing steadied and he found the air enough to speak.

“Again.”

* * *

They raced again, and twice more after that, each time finishing too close to call and needing to spend long moments panting and coughing, catching their breath before one or the other would demand another rematch. 

Haru felt almost drunk on it. The thrill of pushing himself to his limits, of being pushed further beyond that. Of knowing Rin was able to match him stroke for stroke. Might beat him and leave him behind if he allowed it.

Rin moved in the water in a different way to anyone he had ever swim with. Haru had always focussed on becoming as close to one with the water as he could, twisting and rocking his body in a way that made it feel as if he could slip through the waves almost unnoticed.

Rin on the other hand seemed as if he was determined to beat the water into submission, his strokes almost fierce, bending the wake to his will. And the water accepted him. Seemed to welcome him even. 

It was thrilling.

And for the first time in months Haru found himself thinking of little other than this - of swimming, of the feel of the water. Of the body beside him driving him forward faster, harder, further.

* * *

Eventually, they both tired, lying on their backs on the shore and panting under the sun until their breathing steadied and neither one found it within them to issue a fresh challenge.

Haru let his eyes slip closed and listened - only the lapping of the water, the gentle breeze and the breathing of the body next to him breaking the silence.

It was peaceful, calming. He hadn’t felt like that since before the news of his marriage…

_Marriage._

The realisation hit him as a fresh shock all over again. Was he really married. And to the future King of Samezuka no less. It was strange. Over the course of the morning he had almost forgotten that that was what Rin was. That he was technically wed to his lands great rival. 

He turned to look at the man beside him, but as he opened his eyes he realised he himself was already being watched. Rin on his side and staring at his face, his expression thoughtful, almost with a small smile.

“Haruka, do you like it here?” He asked softly.

Haru wasn’t sure how to answer, so he simply gave a small nod and closed his eyes once more, trying to ignore the strange pluck of tension that had risen in him.

* * *

They let the sun dry them, and then finally retreated to where their clothes had been discarded. 

Rin turned away politely as they dressed, which was how Haru found his eyes drifting over his broad shoulders, taking in the muscles of his back, how they flexed and rippled smoothly as Rin twisted the fabric around himself.

Unbidden, Rin’s words from their wedding night played in his heads.

_We don’t really do that here._

It didn’t seem possible that he could be a virgin, with his broad shoulders and well muscled chest that tapered down into a hard, flat stomach. His large soulful eyes, his high cheekbones and creamy complexion. So much for being monstrous to behold… Rin was clearly beautiful.

And Haru hadn’t come across anyone else his age who had not. His own brothers had steadily worked their way around the palace women, with a few stable boys thrown in for variety, both before and after each of their marriages. They had always been merciless when it came to Haru’s own lack of appetite. Even Makoto had eventually bedded a sweet kitchen girl who he had been besotted with, blushing and stammering when he’d admitted to Haru that they’d finally snuck away to do the deed.

And, custom or not, Haru had heard whispers enough to know that there was no shortage of men and women within the court who fantasised about bedding Rin. They talked of it openly: of which among the women at court would be lucky enough to act as ‘vessel’ should he wish for an heir, of what it would be like to go to bed with the future King, thinking nothing of speculating over the fact that Rin still slept alone when Haru was mere feet away.

“Are you hungry Haruka?”

Rin’s voice cut through his idle thoughts, and Haru turned sharply away and focussed on knotting the chiton at his waist, allowing his chest and shoulders to stay exposed to the warmth of the sun.

He felt a prickling heat creep over him as if he had almost been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

But he had only been looking.

Rin turned and smiled at him, and the strange restless discomfort only increased.

“I had the kitchens provide us with some sustenance for the journey back. Let’s eat it!” Rin declared, and Haru nodded, grateful for the distraction.

Rin turned, rummaging in the packs on his camel before setting down a woven blanket, a carefully wrapped wicker box and a goats skin fat with water. When he opened the box up, it revealed an array of dried fishes and a small balls of sticky rice.

Haru looked up at him surprised. 

“I noticed you don’t eat very much at the dinners.” Rin explained, looking strangely meek. “I had my kitchen’s try and make something more traditional to Iwatobi. I’m afraid they could only procure dried fish. Its hard to transport the fresh catch across the land. But we are looking at ways. I hoped you might like this better than our usual fare?”

Haru stared at the spread before him, unaccountably touched by the gesture. It was true he found the food here strange and overly seasoned. He missed his standard meals of fish cooked simply, delicious in its freshness.

He watched as the blush travelled across Rin’s cheeks, captivated by it. He was struck once more by how strange it was that Rin could be one person in public - the perfect shining example of a future King -and yet in private act so tentative, so unsure of himself.

Haru made a show of taking a large bite. It was still all wrong - too many herbs had been added, and the dried fish had none of the sweetness he was used to - yet he felt strangely compelled to put his tastes aside and eat every last bit.

He watched as Rin tried and failed to hide how pleased he was, and it set something strange and warm off in Haru’s stomach again.

* * *

As they ate they talked a little. Uncharacteristically easy conversation between them about where they had first learned to swim, Haruka speaking of his favourite sea cove back home, about how he had friends in the palace who would have to chase him out the water and back to his royal duties. Rin had laughed at that, swapping his own stories of having been told off as a child for trying to sneak to the oasis alone and on a small donkey because he was not yet grown enough to ride a camel. Haruka had chuckled then, hiding it in rice ball, but Rin had seen it all the same, his heart leaping at the sound. 

_I made him laugh!_

When the time finally came to begin their journey home, Rin was heavy with reluctance to end their time together.

It had been everything he had hoped. _More._ Haruka had spent time with him, willingly it had almost seemed. They had raced, and talked, and shared a meal, and away from the palace the heavy silences and awkwardness he was used to between them had seemed to melt away.

He had had _fun._

As they turned away from the oasis, Haruka looked back over his shoulder at the water, then asked, “When can we next next come here?”

Rin smiled, “You can visit any time you like. What’s mine is yours now. Just tell the stables you wish to come and they’ll arrange a guard to see you to where it’s safe.”

Haruka chewed his lip as if considering his words carefully. “And when will you next visit?”

Rin felt a warmth blossom in his chest.“Soon. As soon as I can.”

He knew really he should leave it there. Quit while he had gained some advantage, but he couldn’t help himself and pressed on.

“And Haruka. I’m sorry if we started things on a… on strange footing. This marriage… it was not what I expected for myself. I’m not sure its something I’m going to be naturally good at but I’d like to learn.”

He reached to touch Haruka arm, but stopped short when he noticed how Haruka tensed up. He rushed to explain himself.

“No - I don’t mean….I’m not asking for you to share my bed or be at my side every moment of the day, gods know sometimes I don’t even want to be in the meetings I must attend … but I would like for us to become… “

He almost said the word ‘friends’, but stopped himself. Because it wasn’t true was it? Sousuke was his friend and what he felt for Haruka was wildly different to that. He didn’t only want to be Haruka’s friend, and he would not lie to him, so instead he finished - “more than strangers to one another.”

Haruka looked back at him, expression unreadable and blue eyes filled with something Rin couldn’t name. Weariness? Distrust? Dislike even?

But when he finally replied, all Haruka said was.

“Ok.”

* * *

They rode back mostly in silence, Haru feeling lost to his own thoughts.

Despite everything, despite the guard he had told himself to keep up, despite being so far from all his friends and everything he knew, despite all the limitations and constraints of his situation, spending the day in the sun with Rin - racing and laughing and talking not as two princes, but as simply two men - he had had a good time. He had been happy, and more than that, he had - for a brief shining moment - felt free.

It was confusing, as was the strange warmth he felt within himself again that he knew had nothing to do with the sun.

He was swiftly pulled from his confusion by a shout from Sousuke as he charged towards them on a large mount. They must have already reached the designated pick up point again, he realised. 

“Rin, finally! And Gods your skin. How long were you under the sun for?”

Haru turned in surprise and then saw that yes, Rin’s cheeks and shoulders had over the course of the journey back started to flush a shiny pink. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before.

He looked down at himself, his own skin turning a shade darker from the time spent in the sun.

“Oh, Am I burned? Is it bad?” Rin asked, examining himself looking surprised and a little embarrassed.

“Come. We must get back. To the infirmary now. We must get you a salve before it starts to blister.”

“Surely it’s not that bad?”

“Rin, with all due respect, _now_. You know how fair you are. Why would you stay out so long?”

Sousuke wheeled round on his camel, but not before hissing at Haru “How could you let this happen? Why wouldn’t you tell him he was burning?”

Haru blinked back. He hadn’t thought. The weather in Iwatobi was far milder and he himself did not burn, but now he looked at Rin’s pinking skin seemed suddenly so obvious that it would be delicate to the sun.

Sousuke’s face was hard with anger barely suppressed. “Your highness, I cannot force you to care about him, but I would counsel you that you should not wear your disregard so openly.”

It was spoken low, only for his ears, but the way Rin’s shoulder’s stiffened made Haruka think he had heard and he burned with shame and guilt.

With a cry and a smack to the animals flank, Sousuke and Rin set off at a gallop back to the palace leaving Haru struggling suddenly to keep up, tensed uncomfortably over the reigns as Sousuke’s words repeated around and around in his head.

 _Disregard._ He felt a stab of injustice.

Because was that really what he felt? He didn’t think so. Not anymore.

The realisation brought worries if it’s own.

* * *

Rin was rapidly whisked away into the palace as soon as they arrived, and so Haru lingered sulkily, brushing down Chappy and waving away the attendants who tried to insist they would do the duty. 

He saw their relief when he said he would handle it.

“You’re misunderstood, aren’t you?” He told Chappy softly, feeling like he could relate. The camel simply huffed happily at the attention.

He hadn’t intended for Rin to be burned. It hadn’t even occurred to him it might be a problem. But he couldn’t get Sousuke’s expression from out of his head.

He’d had very little contact so far with Sousuke Yamazaki. He knew he was Rin’s right hand man. A cross between a most trusted advisor and a personal body guard. It made him think of Makoto really, although where Makoto was soft and kind, Sousuke looked on him as if he would happily knock him flat were it not a grave insult to royal protocol.

He worried too, that if Sousuke thought that there had been something malicious or neglectful in Haru’s behaviour, that Rin would be led to feel the same.

It was a strange realisation. That he cared what the Prince thought of him. Not an emotion he was used to.

Reluctantly bidding Chappy goodbye at the stables, Haru decided that - despite having spent most of the day in the water - what he most needed was to spend some time floating in the baths to settle his unrest.

He headed straight for Rin’s private baths, and was somewhat surprised to find he was not alone.

Rin was sat up to his chest in the frigidarium, shivering and looking miserable.

Haru paused for a moment in the door, wondering if he should turn back.

But instead he squared his shoulders and walked to the edge of the pool, lowering to sit and the edge and dip his legs into the water.

“I…. I am sorry.” He spoke stiffly, unused to apologising.

Rin started a moment, and then blinked back at him with big, kind eyes. 

“Haruka? But, why are you apologising? The fault is mine. I should know far better by now I just ...” he gave a sheepish smile. “I lost track of the time.”

Haru felt a strange tug at his chest, but he tried to push it away and instead looked down at his knees.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, I’m fine. Really. My physician Nao has prepared me salve. It will fade.” Rin gestured to a pot at the side.

Haru looked down at it and then at the expanse of Rin’s back, the skin flushed and heated even despite the cold water.

He wondered if he should offer to help to reapply it - he would for Makoto or Nagisa back home without thinking at all - but the idea of touching Rin seemed altogether too intimate.

A flutter of what he thought could be anxiety, stress, washed over him at the idea of placing his hands over Rin’s skin. Of tracing the muscles there.

He felt a flush rise in his own skin.

 _How strange,_ he thought, that this man was his husband and yet touching him felt somehow dangerous.

He faltered, hand poised to reach out, but he dropped it and pushed himself back up to standing, ready instead to walk away.

“I truly am sorry. And thank you for today, Rin. For showing me the oasis. It was beautiful.” He spoke softly, embarrassed suddenly to be there at all.

But Rin whirled round to face him, water splashing over the sides of the bath, and cried out to him in surprise.

“Haruka! You called me by my name! You have never done that before.”

Haru felt his cheeks heat. Rin looked shocked by the gesture, his eyes wide and mouth half open as if he meant to say more. Haru hadn’t intended to. It had just slipped out. He felt himself flush.

“Should I have not? I have yet to be told how I am to address you…what title you prefer from me. And Yamazaki calls you that way so I thought…”

Rin cut him off, beaming “Of course you should call me Rin. It makes me happy to hear you do so.”

Haru nodded once, a little stiffly, unsure what else to do.

“Ok, goodnight then. Rin.”

“Goodnight Haruka! And thank you for today too…” Rin looked down at his hands, seemingly suddenly a little bashful. “I had a lot of fun with you. Let’s go again soon.”

Haru nodded once more, feeling very hot all over as if he were the one burned by the sun. He turned and walked away quickly, hiding the rising colour in his cheeks and leaving Rin to sink back into the icy waters. 

* * *

Haru dreamed that night. 

The sun was burning hot.

He was thirsty.

Then there was Rin, laughing, waterdrops flowing off his skin, the oasis bright and inviting and flowing all around him. He held a hand out to Haru smiling. Haru reached…

… and woke up. Heart pounding.

A dream about the oasis surely?

Only that, he told himself.

But the disquiet that woke him took longer to fade.

_It was just a dream about water_

He told himself again, and again. 

He was used to those… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its taken much longer than I hoped to get this next chapter up.
> 
> Nothing is turning out quite the way I had wanted with this story, but I am committed to seeing it through :)
> 
> Thank you for reading this far if you have <3


	4. IV: Principium et Finis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, its a loooong one ....

Over the following weeks, as soon as Rin’s skin had healed, Haru visited the oasis every chance he could get.

These visits came far fewer and further between than he really would have liked - It often being difficult for Rin to secure time away from his duties - but despite this, something prevented Haru from taking up the offer to go alone. 

He always waited. 

He always went with Rin. 

In fact, he quickly found himself sorely looking forward to those mornings when Rin would wake him by bursting into his room unannounced, sky still dark yet Rin’s smile bright enough to rouse him in an instant. 

It was as if a whole new dimension to his life at Samezuka had opened up to him. An escape, a freedom, and a side to Rin that he had not expected to find when first confronted with the news of their marriage. 

When they were together in the water, stripped bare and hidden away from the pressures and the hyper-viability of the palace, it was as if all the differences between them - and there were many - ceased to matter; as while it was true that Rin was the future King, he was also just a 20 year old man. He seemed to come to life with their challenges, and Haru found himself less and less able to hold back. They raced, they splashed, and they played at the stupid games of childhood that Haru had almost forgotten: who could hold their breath the longest, who could dive deep enough to touch the bottom - presenting each other rocks and pebbles as proof of their achievements. They made foolish plans to build a hut by the water and stay out all night. And when they had finally tired, they would lie out (Rin in the shade, Haru stretched out on a hot rock or on the warm sand) and wait for their skin to dry. 

Sometimes they talked, other times they stayed silent and only listening to the water lapping and the wind. But it was always with a comfortable sort of peace that brought with it the strange realisation that Haru had been enjoying himself. 

And then there was the even stranger realisation. Haru liked Rin. 

He liked spending time with him. Liked that he gave his all to everything he did - be it a meeting at court or a meaningless race across the oasis, Rin went at it full pelt. He liked that Rin did not demand that Haru address him by his title, or bow and scrape in his presence as was well within his right to do. In fact, just sometimes, when they were together he found himself forgetting their stations at all, so caught up in wanting to beat him in whatever silly game or sport they had landed on that day. He would even find himself wondering idly about what could have been if they had met in another time, in another life. They could have been boyhood friends. They could have set out on grand adventures. They could have…

Haru found it harder and harder to remember that he wasn’t supposed to want anything to do with Rin at all. 

* * *

While their time at the oasis brought Haru ease, the realities of his life in Rin’s palace could not be entirely ignored. 

The fact was, Haru still hated the attention of the court, so would stay stiff and silent and sullen at meals even though he increasingly came to regret the obvious discomfort it caused Rin. He did concede to attend more of Rin’s meetings, sitting in councils and trade negotiations and policy disputes; silent still, but an increasingly familiar presence as Rin went about his business of running the lands, drawn in some unnamable way to spend his days as much as possible at the side of the Prince. 

His presence was not openly remarked on but he knew that, despite Rin’s instance to the contrary, he was not welcome there. While in name he was now a member of Samezuka’s royalty, he would always be of Iwatobi first and foremost in the minds of the court and the council. He knew this, and knew that it made them uncomfortable to have him exposed to so many of the intimate details of their defence, their trade planning and their provisions. 

The members of Rin’s household and court were always unfailingly courteous when he was at Rin’s side - treating him with the honour his title demanded - but when he was alone they did less to hide their wariness at his presence. Their whispers made Haru’s skin tingle everywhere he walked, the hair at the back of his neck prickling and standing on end as he heard over and over again variations of the same: the disappointment, the shame, the sorrow for Rin that their shining price had been chained to a son of Iwatobi. 

When he was not with Rin, he was left very much alone. 

And while he couldn’t bring himself to go to him and ask, to seek out their days at the oasis, he found himself hoping more and more for the bright relief that came with being away from the Palace. From being alone with Rin. 

* * *

For Rin too, time with Haruka at the oasis rapidly became the highlight to his days. Giving him something to hope for and look forward to among his relentless schedule of diligence and duty.

It was as if the oasis had opened up a common language between them. Swimming, racing, competing. In these things Rin felt he could almost start to approach an understanding of Haruka. Could push and prod and tease and show all the most open and desperate parts of himself without risking the blunt disinterest he had become accustomed to. And in between these small footholds of safe ground, other things started to slip through. Small insights into all the things that made Haruka who he was - the way he felt most himself with water, the way he couldn’t help but to doodle shapes and images in the wet sand, the way he would lie on his back and watch the desert birds swoop and flit above them with a look of dreamy contentment on his face. And smaller details too - that something called a ‘mackerel’ was his favorite fish. That he did not enjoy foods that were too spicy, and disliked too much noise. That the crowds at royal events had always made him anxious - even as a boy. Rin committed each new discovery to memory, treasuring each and every small piece of himself that Haruka felt able to give. 

Rin was also surprised to find his husband was funny. True, it was in the flat, stoic way he seemed to approach most things, but more times than Rin expected he found Haruka was able to say or do something that had him bursting into peels of laughter. 

He seemed to relax around Rin when they were away from the court. The tension almost visibly dropping from his body as they rode along the now familiar route until he could rush, peeling the clothes from his body, and dive into the blue of the water. 

Which was not to say that things were fully resolved between them. 

Rin still kept tight control over his feelings, ever sure not to breach the limits of the new familiarity they were building between them by reaching out as he so wanted. Keeping the boundaries between their bodies clear. Safe. 

And Haruka still had strange moods that Rin didn’t understand. Times that he would withdraw, become sullen and distant again. Sometimes Rin could even swear he could see the transition - as if Haruka caught himself relaxing too much, becoming too close to actually opening up and enjoying himself - and the walls would slam down.

Rin hated those times, and so tried to make it so they could go to the oasis as often as possible - once a week at least - in order to savour the sense of increasing closeness it brought. But sometimes the requirements of his station prevented them from going for longer than that, leaving him feeling unsatisfied and guilty. He sent his apologies always, but these gaps would inevitably result in Haruka acting distant to him once more, Rin finding it strange and unsettling how they could go from so much progress to barely speaking when within the walls of his home. 

Which is why he found it particularly surprising when early one morning as he took to his daily dawn training with Sousuke, he turned to find Haruka up and dressed and stood at the side of the arena watching them. 

If seeing Haruka up and about before breakfast was not in and of itself enough of a break from normality, the morning marked three whole weeks since Rin had last been able to take Haruka to the oasis, so bogged down was he by battling with council over several major decisions about the future of Samezuka’s trade of precious metals and gems, and by the need to complete the critical arrangements for the desolate months that would soon descend upon them with the close of the temperate season. The gap had caused Haruka to descend into a period of sullen silence, mostly spending his mornings in the baths, leaving Rin close to despairing that all the new ground won between them was to be lost. 

So to have him suddenly seek him out - for why else would he be there so early? - was nothing short of an utter shock to Rin. 

“Haruka!” He cried out as soon he had spotted him, almost dropping the bow he had in hand for their target practice, “You’re come to join us?”

Sousuke stared too, brows raised as Rin waved the Prince over. 

Haruka looked torn between stepping forward and turning to leave, but in the end he did indeed come closer, eyeing the weapons in their hands wearily. 

“Did you ever play much at archery in Iwatobi? Look, we have a whole target range here.” 

Rin smiled his most welcoming smile, waving towards the far end of the arena where the guards had arranged a series of wooden targets, some large as shields, while others were not much beyond the size of a buckle and swaying on ropes in the wind. 

“We have some.” Haruka admitted quietly, gaze still fixed on the bow in Rin’s hands. 

“Excellent. The you must practice with us!” Rin motioned, and just like that an attendant ran forward with a fresh bow and arrows for Haruka. 

Haruka took it in his hands but his shoulders tightened a little. He looked between Sousuke and Rin. 

“It doesn’t interest me.”

Rin was undeterred. 

“Come on! Have a try. You might enjoy it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t hit it first time. I can show you if you like?”

Something flashed in Haruka’s eyes at that. He took the bow, nocked an arrow and - not moving his eyes from Rin’s - loosed it straight into the centre of the furthest bullseye. 

“I said it didn’t interest me. Not that I can’t do it.” 

Sousuke snorted while Rin was left blinking open mouthed. 

“Right!” He declared when he had regained his composure enough to speak. “Best of five.” 

After that they were lost to competition, battling over every game Rin could think of and getting sweaty and angry and almost violent with each other in a bid to outdo the other. 

Despite his seeming resistance for all things royal, Haruka clearly had received the full education and training befitting a prince, and they were well matched in most all of the games. Haruka just beating Rin in the bow and arrow, the javelin and the discus, while Rin took a slight advantage in running and rope pulling and wrestling (though the latter caused his face to redden in a way he was sure was all too clearly not due to exertion alone).

When it came to sword fighting, they were evenly matched, Haruka surprisingly strong for all that he looked too lean to hold much weight. He was clever with his footing, knew how to use his slightness to his advantage, and more than once left Rin twisting and flailing unnaturally to avoid being struck. 

“Just what type of a creature did you marry?” Sousuke laughed, handing Rin a towel as he recovered from a particularly lengthy bout, Haruka pacing at the opposite end of the arena like a restless lion. 

Rin just huffed out a tired laugh. 

“I have no idea. Brilliant isn’t he?” 

Sousuke smiled and then with a final hearty pat to Rin’s back, opted to to discreetly leave the two Princes to their sport. 

As much as the Prince Nanase had not endeared himself toward Sousuke in the slightest, and as much as he was worried about Rin, about seeing him hurt in the arrangement, he had to admit he was pleased to see that Haruka seemed somehow able to make Rin stop working for long enough to have some fun again. 

As a young boy Rin had been cheeky, mischievous - always up to some trouble or other with Sousuke, running around the palace half wild and driving the staff to despair. But all that had come to an end swiftly and absolutely with the death of his father. It didn’t matter that he was barely more than a child, he was the heir, and while it was quickly agreed that Miyako would act as regent until he came of age, the eyes of the court looked to him, not her, as their future ruler. 

Sousuke had watched as Rin learnt quickly not to show his heartbreak in public. Not to run. Not to play. To put childish things behind him and to focus on his lessons. On attending every council meeting even though at first half the words they spoke meant nothing to him. 

So Sousuke had stopped playing too. Ever loyal, ever at Rin’s side. Instead they studied and they trained, their long boyish limbs being sculpted into the bodies of men. Of soldiers. 

And while Sousuke was infinitely proud of the way his friend had taken kingship onto his young shoulders, he sometimes missed the Rin of his youth that was so quick to joke and smile. The one who would happily sneak from the palace to explore the city beyond, who looked joyful more than he looked serious. 

And so watching him getting into a childish argument with Haruka about what constituted a fair move or not was strangely comforting. 

He forced himself to push down the urge to intervene, to warn his friend that the foreign prince was no good for him, and to let his friend enjoy the spark of interest Haruka had suddenly decided to bestow upon him. 

* * *

Enjoy it Rin did. 

Despite knowing he should keep his expectations low, despite knowing Haruka was as yet not really his - not in the way he wanted - Rin couldn’t help but feel his chest burst with happiness when he thought over the past weeks. Of how they seemed to finally be growing closer. 

Haruka no longer avoided him. No longer walked away from him, or ignored him when he was speaking. And now he had actually sought him out. Had voluntarily wanted to spend time with him, 

Rin smiled to himself, heart fluttering. 

Arranged marriage or not, Haruka was everything he could have possibly hoped for himself. 

He was talented, graceful, clever, intriguing and so so beautiful. Knowingly or not, He pushed Rin to want to be better than he was. 

Rin felt lucky he had the chance to have this man in his life and was happy at every chance he got to spend time with him.

But he wished bitterly that his heart would accept it as enough. 

He tried desperately to convince himself that it was. Enough to spend time with him when they could, enough that Haruka might one day at least look on him as a friend.

But it wasn’t. He knew it was selfish but he wanted Haruka to want him. Wanted his husband to ache for him in the way that Rin ached.

More and more he would catch Haruka watching him, that same stoic expression on his face but eyes bright and sharp and fixed on _him._

Rin wanted to know what he was thinking. If it was about him. If it was often. If it was as often as Rin thought about Haruka. 

If it was everything. 

* * *

“Rin, you are grinning like a fool.” Sousuke hissed at him in council later that day. “Have you heard a word said?”

Rin turned blinking at him. 

“He sought me out.” He beamed. 

Sousuke rubbed his hands with his temples. 

“I hate to see you so pleased by so little Rin. Now listen.” 

Rin did as he was told, and turned back to the matter at hand, but still couldn’t wipe the softy happy look from his face. 

Haruka had wanted to see him. 

* * *

That night, Rin took the uncommon step of sending word he would not be eating at court, and instead arranging a private family dinner. 

He was feeling buoyed up by Haruka’s attention that morning and wanted to give him a chance to see he was truly a part of his family now. 

Miyako was thrilled at the idea, privately torn with guilt at watching her son struggle with a marriage she herself had been powerless to prevent. She felt unequipped to deal with the strange boy who had come to them from their oldest rivals, and was not immune to hearing the gossip of the court that had labelled him haughty and rude and strange. She welcomed the chance to spend time with him in a more personable setting, to see if there was truly something to be saved in the match. 

Gou too had leapt at the idea, terrorising the staff and kitchen (good naturedly of course) with demands to make it perfect. She remained one of the only members of Rin’s household that seemed to have anything much good to say about Haruka, and while Rin still felt a little uneasy that the marriage had originally been intended between the two of them, he was grateful that Gou was so enthused at the idea of helping Haruka feel at home.

Haruka by contrast seemed uncharacteristically nervous. When Rin went to collect him from his chamber he found him dressed far more formally than was required, and far from his usual calm and stoic composure seemingly unable to stop fiddling with his clothing, with his hair and with his ring. 

“Relax! You are family now and so they already love you!” Rin tried to reassure, just catching himself from adding _‘just as I do’._

Haruka gave him what previously Rin might have thought of as a flat look, but now he felt sure he could parse out that there was something of gratitude in his eyes. Feeling brave, he reached out and placed a hand on Haru’s shoulder. 

“Plus! The kitchen has been working on some new fish dishes. I want to hear what you think of them!”

Haruka looked from the hand on his shoulder to Rin. Rin braced himself to be shrugged off, but Haruka only nodded, the smallest hint of a smile gracing his lips. 

_More progress._ Rin smiled to himself. 

* * *

The dinner was to be held in Miyako’s rooms, and before they managed to get much through the door Gou came flying at them, wrapping her arms around Rin’s neck in a hug that set him stumbling a few paces back. 

“Brother! I’ve barely seen you lately. Must you work so hard? I miss you.”

Rin laughed and spun her around a little. “Gou, really you are being dramatic. Besides, Samezuka won’t run itself now will it?”

“Well maybe if you weren’t such a proud fool and actually accepted my help once in a while you might find you had more time. Haruka, you must get him to take a break more often! Now come, I hope you are both hungry. The kitchen’s have outdone themselves.

Haruka had visibly stiffened at Rin’s side, and as Gou turned and made her way back to the table he leaned over, and whispered scandalised. 

“You allow her to speak to you like that?” 

Rin blinked back at him. “She is my sister.”

“But you are to be King!” Haruka exclaimed. He seemed to be experiencing mild shock. 

Rin laughed lightly. “When we are alone as family I am no King. I am her brother and must suffer her as all brothers with little sisters must. Are you and your brothers not the same when free from the eyes of your court?” 

Haruka’s eyes flattened slightly and he looked away. “No. We do not speak to one another that way.” 

Rin was about to press the matter when Miyako’s voice rang out softly. 

“Rin, Haruka. I’m so glad you could join us. Come, sit. Tell me about your day? And Haruka you must tell us how the food is - I know our meals must seem strange to you. If there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable here you must tell us. You are family now after all.” 

Rin turned and smiled at Haruka who, having braced in anticipation to Miyako’s words, seemed to finally to ease in tension a little. 

“Come. I told you. They will love you. Now let’s eat.” 

* * *

Haruka stayed mostly quiet the rest of the night. 

He answered the questions from Miyako and Gou politely, but sensing his reticence, the Matsuoka women quickly filled the silences, and with Rin added into the mix it was soon so that Haruka would have struggled to get a word in edgewise even if he had wanted to. 

He seemed to relax though. Rin noted that he ate well and followed everything, his eyes bright and keen. He even came close to smiling a times in the evening when the talk got particularly animated, and Rin felt a soft fondness for him then. 

_My husband. My family._ He thought. Something about the arrangement feeling the closest to complete it ever had done since his father’s death, even as the thought sent a twinge of sadness through him. 

_I wonder what you would have made of him, father_. 

His father had been boisterous and loud and loved tall tales and song and noise and activity. Even so, Rin felt somehow quietly confident that Haruka and Toraichi would have gotten along perfectly. 

* * *

Haru couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, his family had dined together outside of state functions. The last time they had dined together just to be _together._

True, his brothers were all married and so spent much of their time at their own residences and territories in Iwatobi. But even when they stayed at the Royal Palace they barely spoke to one another at all. His mother and father occupied entirely separate wings of the household, and if Haruka was unable to escape into the city for the night to see Nagisa or Ikuya he typically dined alone in his rooms or with Makoto and Rei. 

It was strange then, to be surrounded by such familiarity and warmth. The way Rin, Miyako and Gou functioned perfectly happily as their own little unit. Laughing and joking with one another, no sense of rank or formality. Teasing in that way that only family seemed able to get away with. 

And Rin had wanted to offer this to him. To allow him to take a part in it. 

The warmth and cosiness of the arrangement had washed over him so completely that by the time the candles had burned down and it was time to bid Miyako and Gou goodnight Haru realised with some surprise he had been having rather a wonderful time and was not ready for the night to be over. 

Before realising the words were slipping from his mouth, he found himself suggesting to Rin a walk through the gardens before they retired. 

He felt a little guilty by how shocked Rin looked, but that was somewhat lessened by the pleased flush that travelled over Rin’s cheeks as he agreed. 

As they walked they talked lightly of inconsequential things - of which flowers were in bloom, of how mild the night was, of how the stars looked especially bright. Haru tried once or twice to say something more meaningful, but his throat seemed strangely to stick. 

Eventually they paused by one of the many grand foundations and, staring into the water, Haru seemed finally to find his true voice again. 

“Thank you. For tonight. Your family is… you are lucky.” He spoke softly into the night air. 

Rin turned to him and smiled. “I am. We might only be three now, but we love each other. I don’t know what I would do without my mother and Gou at my side.”

“Your mother is very kind.” Haru agreed, “Why is she not more often in court?”

A look of worry passed over Rin’s features. “She used to, more when I was younger. I think keeping busy helped her when she was missing my father. But now Gou and I are grown she spends much of her time locked away. I try to encourage her out but….” 

He trailed off, looking so sad that Haru blurted the first thing he could think of. 

“Why does she not re-marry?” 

Rin almost choked on the air. 

“Never! She would not! My father…. They loved each other too much for that. They were soulmates. There’s no replacing that its…” 

That set him off, talking with great passion and vigour about how his parents had fallen in love. That against the odds of finding one another they had. How romantic it had been, how it must be the greatest thing in life to find the one person you can love above all others. 

Haru watched him, quietly enjoying the grand speech that seemed to come along with a lot of vigorous hand actions and quotes of poetry that he had never heard of. 

But as Rin carried on and on waxing lyrical about love, the moonlight gilding him in silver so that he almost shone with the excitement of it all, Haru felt something tug at him. A unsettled feeling that he couldn’t ignore as much as he tried to instead just focus on Rin and what he was saying.

Because Rin, it was becoming increasingly clear, was a romantic. He loved romance, loved the idea of love. 

And something in that didn’t sit right with Haru. Didn’t tessellate with his expectations, his understanding of the foundations of the arrangement made between them. 

He turned away, hiding his expression. 

“I think I will retire now. Good night Rin.” 

Rin cut himself off mid flow looking surprised by the sudden change in atmosphere. 

“But wait, Haruka, I’m sorry. We’ve talked so much of my family. What of yours? Won’t you tell me a little? I know you have three brothers, and also now three sisters by marriage. Is that so?”

Haru froze, he couldn’t bring himself to ignore the question, but he did not wish to discuss this either. He simply nodded. 

It was enough encouragement that Rin continued. 

“You must miss them.”

 _Not them._ Haru thought, while Rin blustered on. 

“I know it must have been hard for you to decide to come here. But for what it’s worth I’m glad that you did, that you chose to accept the match even though it is not the one you requested.”

Rin smiled at him, a soft, slightly shy smile that Haru thought very few people must have seen on him before. He couldn’t stop himself. 

“I did not request the marriage.” He blurted, before he could think through where the admission would lead them. 

Rin frowned looking genuinely confused. 

“But…the demand on the treaty came from your father in your name. If it was not your bidding, why did you consent to it?”

Haru turned wide-eyed. 

“I did not.” He replied, unable to hide his surprise that Rin was seemingly unaware of something so obvious. “This is my punishment.” 

“Punishment!” Rin froze, pulling up short, one hand half raised as if he had intended to reach out to Haru. 

Haru found he could not meet his eye. He nodded stiffly. 

“It is the ruling of my father.”

“But... but punishment for what? Haruka …” Rin stuttered. 

And Haru felt the panic start to rise up. He did not want to think of this. He did not want to speak of it. Not now. Not with Rin. He turned sharply back away and would not say, bidding a hasty goodnight and leaving Rin floundering and alone in the dark of the gardens.

* * *

Something changed for Rin after that night. He no longer could look at his husband and see the growing love he felt, the hope for the future. Instead he saw only his discomfort and his misery. Haruka was like a beautiful bird trapped in a cage. And Rin had unwittingly had a hand in his capture. 

“He’s never going to be happy here.” He told Sousuke one day. 

Sousuke rapped his knuckles against the pile of parchment in front of them. 

“Rin. Focus. The council will want to know your judgment on these matters.”

Rin blinked. “Yes... right.” 

He looked down, but his gaze quickly slid from the paper. “Perhaps I should ask his thoughts? Get him more involved in matters of state so he feels more at home here?” 

Sousuke groaned. “He already sits at your side in council whenever he deigns to attend. He is uninterested and makes no attempt to hide it. They excuse him because he is new and strange. You however do not have such luxury. So focus. What are we to do about the need for new trade routes?” 

Rin turned back to the papers, forcing himself to concentrate, but the matter ate away at him all the same. 

He had known that for Haruka the marriage had been primarily, if not entirely, political - Haruka himself had told him so that very first night - but he had at the least assumed that his husband had been involved in the planning of it. To learn that he was here against his will… that he saw their union as a sentence to be endured.... it changed things in a way Rin was not sure he could recover from. 

* * *

Haru knew he had made a grave mistake.

Lulled into a sense of intimacy, of kinship, he had slipped up and given something of himself away that he had not intended to share. And in the sharing of it without proper explanation he knew he had done some unnamable damage to the fragile bonds he and Rin had, against all his better judgement, formed. 

He tried to tell himself that he didn’t care, that it didn’t matter, but the stories he had clung to when he first arrived in Samezuka no longer served him. Whatever he might try to tell himself, when he saw the guilt and upset in Rin’s eyes each time they met he felt an answering guilt gnaw at him. 

He had hurt Rin he knew, but he could not fathom how to begin to explain. Or even to really decide once and for all if he wanted to. Stuck between desire for estrangement and desire for greater intimacy. 

And so he did not speak of it again. _They_ did not speak of it. They barely spoke at all in fact, the silence at dinner times no longer entirely resting with Haru. 

Then, as the days tipped into a full week since their conversation in the gardens, and Rin withdrew further and further from him, Haru began to notice something peculiar. 

It was no longer only himself who Rin began to act distant with. 

At first he thought it was simply coincidence - that the open council meetings were rearranged or run with Sousuke at the helm. But then Rin’s weekly forum with the people of Samezuka was cancelled too - something Haru knew was of upmost importance to Rin - and odder still nobody seemed to find it strange. 

Then Haru started to see that it wasn’t just meetings and matters of state. Rin was barely seen about the palace at all, no longer spending time at the training grounds with his guards, or in the gardens taking time out to converse with the members of his court. Instead he stayed locked away with only his most trusted advisors and the most senior members of his council. 

As a consequence Haru found himself too much alone again, sulking in the baths and trying to understand what was taking place. As much as he knew their talk had disturbed Rin, he quickly sensed that whatever was going on went far beyond him. 

For one thing, Gou and Miyako also became a scarce sight, and even Aii and Momo started to look more grim-faced than cheerful when Haru crossed paths with them. 

Stranger still, Haru seemed to be the only one who found this behaviour noteworthy. It was almost as if the palace had collectively been anticipating it, talk turning from trade and harvest to whispers of arrivals, of feasting, of ceremony.

Haru could only watch confused as the servants raced around, cleaning the palace from top to bottom and carrying crate after crate of foods, and drinks and decoration. 

And throughout on the rare occasion Haru saw Rin he looked worse each time - pale and restless, with smudges of blue-grey forming under his eyes. 

It took for Sousuke to enlighten him. 

Haru had been minding himself in his rooms, drawing distractedly as he tried to understand what could be the matter with Rin, when Yamazaki had marched in unannounced and carrying long swaths of cloth in his arms. 

Haru frowned at the interruption. At the blatant disregard of any warning or announcement, but Sousuke only looked boredly down on him, holding out the bundle in his hands. 

“Prince Nanase these have been ordered for you. Kisumi is busy making adjustments for the Princess so I’m tasked with the immense honor of seeing to their safe delivery.”

His tone made it clear he found it anything but an honor. 

Haru blinked up at him. 

“Excuse me?”

“Your clothing for the memorial. Rin had it commissioned himself so I’d suggest you rethink any complaints or adjustments you might have.” 

Sousuke motioned lazily with his hand, and two house-servants scurried in from behind him seemingly determined to help Haru dress and undress. 

Haru did not move, only took the bundle and ran his fingers over the soft, dark material. 

“What memorial? Nobody has mentioned such a thing.” 

Sousuke frowned at him. “You cannot tell me you do not know what is approaching? The palace has spoken of nothing else these past weeks.” 

Despite himself, Haru flushed. With Rin acting elusive, who else had there been that might inform him of such things?

Sousuke sighed heavily. 

“It is not something Rin readily speaks of, so it seems the duty of briefing you falls to me. Before the month is over we will mark the passing of his highness King Toraichi. Nobles and landowners from all over Samezuka are travelling to the palace as we speak to pay their respects, both to Rin and to the memory of his father. It is a difficult time for him. I would ask you to respect that and do your duty in attending at his side.” 

Haru could have kicked himself. Of course he should have known. He remembered as a boy learning of King Toraichi’s death. His father had ordered a feast at the news, and he and Makoto had eaten so many sweets they had been sick for the whole day after. The thought of it made him feel sick again now.

There were many rumours in Iwatobi about how it had come to pass. None of them very flattering to the King, or his country or indeed his son. It was even the subject of a drunken song or two in some of the worse parts of the town. It had never much occurred to Haru to care - it always seemed entirely remote to him - but now, with the image of Rin tired and pale looking in his minds eye, for the first time in his life he felt it important that he know the truth. 

Sousuke had already turned to leave Haru with the servants, but Haru shot up, sending the bundle of materials tumbling to the ground to call him back. 

“Wait, Sousuke. How did it happen, how did he die?”

Sousuke turned back to him, eyes flashing and looking incredulous. 

“You do not know?”

Haru shook his head, and something in his expression must have caused Sousuke to take pity, as the taller man’s shoulders dropped and he sighed. 

“The King was out riding and he was ambushed by mercenaries. He fought well but he had only one guard and so they were outnumbered. He bore his wounds long enough to get Rin back to the palace, but ….” Sousuke trailed off and looked away. 

Haru felt a fresh wave of sickness tear through him.

“Rin was with him?”

Sousuke nodded, looking grave. Then spoke firmly. 

“Do not speak of this to him. His grief is private.”

* * *

Haru tried to respect Sousuke’s words, Rin’s wishes, but in the days that followed he could think of little more than Rin as a boy having to witness the killing of his father. 

He lurked the corridors listening to the servants chatter hoping to pick up details that would help him understand. He even visited the royal libraries in the hopes of uncovering some account of the day. There was none. 

He sat still and silent at Rin’s side at mealtimes and saw how little he took of the food and drink. Wanting to reach out but unable to. Twisting the ring that had once belonged to Rin’s father, but now sat on his finger, until his skin started to crack underneath it. 

He watched finally as the halls were decorated with lilies and rosemary was burned in the fires, making everything smell of sweetness and mourning, and knew the day had come.

He wanted to seek Rin out, to try to speak with him and understand what was expected of that day, but he was thwarted by a small army of servants who insisted on helping him bathe and dress, polishing his skin with sweet smelling oils and brushing his hair back from his face. A slim, bronze circlet was placed on his brow. A lesser imitation of the one Rin had worn on their wedding day. 

Then he was left to wait. 

He could hear the bustle and noise in the corridors and courtyard beyond, but he stayed silent and still waiting to be called. He watched the shadows travel across the floor, but still he waited. 

Until eventually he heard a knocking at his door. 

“Come in.”

He knew even before the person entered, surprising himself by the way his heart took to double time. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes lifted and he took in the sight before him. 

He hadn’t seen Rin so covered in finery since their wedding. He was almost startled by it, being so used to seeing him in plain (if well woven) chitons, only the royal broach at his breast signalling his far superior station. 

Tonight he was dressed for mourning, swathed in long black flowing robes of fine cloth that fluttered and shifted as he moved. The dark of his robes made the pale of his skin look even more striking, and his irises seemed to have grown deeper and darker in comparison. His hair was slicked back, his royal circlet set at his brow and his eyelids had once more been rimmed in gold paint. His wrists were circled with thick gold cuffs, and yet more gold hung from the shells of his ears. 

He looked majestic. 

Haru too was dressed for mourning, his own dark robes of a thicker cloth yet no less fine. In comparison to Rin though he felt stiff and awkward in them, standing to greet him. Rin didn’t seem to notice, and gave a warm smile.

“Haruka. I’m come to escort you to the ceremony. Would you walk with me?” 

Haru was just about able to nod his assent. Rin looked away, seemingly a little bashful. 

“And I am also here to apologise to you. I know I have not been much present these past days. This time of year -” he seemed to struggle to find the words. “It takes a great deal of planning, and it is not a task I take well to. Will you forgive me?”

Haru blinked back at him. True, he had missed Rin’s company the past days and weeks, and it had troubled him when he thought that he himself, and his confession had alone been the cause, but it had not occurred to him that there might be anything to forgive. 

“I will.” he answered bluntly, wishing he could say something more, something truer to how he was feeling. 

But Rin seemed satisfied, and nodded motioning ahead of him. “Then let us now depart.”

Without thinking much of the gesture, Haru reached and slipped his arm around Rin’s, linking them at the elbow. It was only when Rin started, his cheeks and the tips of his ears turning a little pink, that Haru realised this was the first time since their wedding that they had been arm in arm. 

He felt his own cheeks burn, and to distract from the moment - and his own strange boldness - asked, “Will you tell me what the ceremony entails? Nobody has spoken to me of it?” 

Rin frowned a little, “In truth there is very little to the ceremony itself, and very little of my father in it. Mostly for those that come here - those in power, and those than want for power - it is an excuse to drink and feast and see what they can gain from each other and from me. I will be lighting a brazier in honour of my father to start the festivities but…” he trailed off and looked downcast, “If it were my choice I would remember him privately.” 

Haru tightened his hold on Rin’s arm, and together they made their way through the palace and out to the main courtyard. 

As they walked, Haru was surprised how relieved he felt to have Rin near him again. It had not been all that long since they had been alone together, and yet he was faced with the sudden understanding that he had missed him. That since that night in the gardens a part of him had been unable to settle without Rin at his side. 

He was pulled from the strangeness of his musing by the rush of trumpets, the beat of drums that signalled their arrival. 

As they walked through the curving arches and entered the main courtyard Haru felt his breath catch anew. The main palace courtyard and surrounding gardens were filled with a sea of bodies, each holding small flickering candles that cast ghostly shadows to their faces. Flaming torches had been set up all around the perimeter, and Haru could see they extended to the smaller interconnected gardens beyond. Other than the beat of the drums and the call of the trumpets there was no sound. Hundreds of fire lit figures clad in dark robes staring out towards them silently and expectantly. 

It was eerie and beautiful all at once. 

Miyako stood on a dias erected in the centre looking like something out of a painting. Her burgundy hair looped into braids around her glittering crown, her dark eyes smudged darker with Kohl. Gou at her side looking every inch her daughter, face pinched tight in concentration, but no less beautiful for it.

Haru snuck to glance at Rin. He looked calm and collected, but Haru could feel how he had tensed when faced with the crowd. 

Rin turned and inclined his head in a brief bow. 

“I must leave you now. Thank you for accompanying me. It has made this easier for me.” 

He was forced to let go of Rin’s arm. 

He watched as the crowds parted and Rin walked forward alone. He stepped up to the dias and embraced his mother, kissed Gou’s cheek.

He turned and a servant rushed forward to offered him a gleaming bow tipped in gold. 

The drums stopped, and the crowds hushed into an even deeper silence as Rin nocked an arrow and tipped the head, coated in pitch, into the torch at his side. It burst into flames. 

The light from the fire licked over his features, bringing out the golden red of his hair, the pale of his throat. Haru swallowed hard as the muscles in Rin’s arms grew taut with the bow. 

All eyes were fixed on him. And on the tripod erected at the far end of the gardens. 

Haru would have hated to be the subject of so much attention, but Rin bore it with a quiet grace. He fixed his eyes on his target. 

_Don't miss._ He found himself wishing, which he knew was foolish - since when in their archery had he ever seen Rin miss? 

Rin’s fingers flexed, and he sent the arrow arching high into the sky, a flash of flame before it landed square in the bowl of the tripod, igniting the oil within into a fire that lit the faces of the crowds. They clapped and cheered for him, and Rin bowed solemnly. 

As he straightened, Haru could have sworn that - just for a moment - despite the crowds and the press all around him, their eyes met. 

* * *

After the ceremony Haru quickly lost Rin among the many people who rushed to clasp his hand, to embrace him or to present their families to him. 

The atmosphere was quick to change from its solemn start to one of joy and revelry. A troupe of players set up in front of the flaming brazier, the firelight dancing over them as they kept the crowds amused with music and song. 

Servants were circulating with great golden trays of foods and drink, and tables were laid at the edges of the square with yet more delicacies and jugs of wine. Haru took neither. As much as he tried to suppress the desire, all he wanted was to find Rin and be back by his side. 

He wandered the courtyards and gardens aimlessly, trying his best to ignore the many looks thrown his way. He couldn't help but feel a strong distaste for the crowds who laughed and made merry, or sloped off to find shaded corners to seek other desires, while he knew the Matsuoka family grieved. 

He glimpsed Miyako and Gou occasionally - stood looking tired and tight lipped as they greeted a seemingly never ending line of wellwishers with Sousuke ever present at their side. 

Rin on the other hand remained elusive. Occasionally Haru would think he caught a glimpse of him in the crowds - drinking or talking with guests - but whenever he tried to get close he found himself thwarted by the mass of bodies. 

He supposed it was not uncommon that he would be in great demand. That his time would be taken up by his people, but Haru felt oddly exposed and rudderless without him. 

As he walked he caught enough snatches of conversation to understand he was a popular topic of discussion that night, though it was quickly clear that nobody was much interested in actually talking _to_ him. Not that he minded that so much. He was happy to be left alone, and would have perhaps even left and returned to his room were it not for something about the way Rin had looked at him earlier - the vulnerability and grief in his features - making it impossible to go until he had seen him again. 

Eventually, he opted to tuck himself in a quiet corner and simply observe, waiting patiently as the fires started to burn down and the crowds thinned. 

And then finally, he spotted him. 

He was stood sheltered in one of the stoney alcoves almost directly opposite the courtyard to Haru’s own hiding place, but he was not alone. 

A man with long, almost silver blonde hair was talking with Rin. His clothes and jewels marked him out to be one of the wealthier guests at the banquet. He looked to be in his early 40s - face tanned and lightly lined - but he was still lean and strong looking, his shoulders broad and his arms well muscles where they were exposed by the cut of his dark chiton. 

It was not an unusual thing to see Rin talking alone with one of his subjects, but something about the picture made Haru uneasy. 

He did not much care for the way the man was looking at Rin. There was something bright and hungry in his grey eyes that set Haru’s teeth on edge. 

He noticed Sousuke stood a little way off also seemingly watching the pair, and he approached him, reaching out and tapping Sousuke’s arm who started at the touch, clearly surprised to be addressed by Haru. 

“Yes, Prince Nanase?”

Haru ignored the pointed formality and ground out a little stiffly, “Who is that?” 

Sousuke followed his eyeline, and then looked between Rin and the man and Haru, eyes narrowed a little in suspicion as if something wasn’t quite adding up. 

“That is Lord Tsutomu. One of our most powerful and respected land owners.”

The answer did not satisfy Haru. He wanted to know what his business was with Rin. Why he was standing so close. Why he seemed unable to keep his hands from wandering over - repeatedly touching Rin’s shoulder, brushing his arm and clasping at his wrist. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Not Yamazaki at any rate. 

Sousuke seemed to understand though, teal eyes still sharp on him, and took pity sighing out, “Do not worry, Rin can out maneuver him with ease. Lord Tsutomu has been trying to work his way into his bed since he was barely 16. There is no danger in him succeeding.” 

The words were accompanied by a look of disgust, and Haru nodded to him thankful. 

Because the answer made up his mind. He set out across the courtyard. 

* * *

“I must express my regret that I had not known you had a preference for men. I would have made my suit more… ardently.” 

Haru just caught the end of Lord Tsutomu’s sentence, whispered low and clearly intended for Rin alone to hear, as he neared the pair - standing just a little out of their eyeline but close enough that he could see that when Rin laughed lightly in answer, while his smile remained charming, he subtly shifted his body away.

“Be assured friend that there was nothing inadequate in your suit. I remain flattered that you would think of me. My mind was only recently turned to marriage.”

“I hear tell it was turned for reasons of policy. To honour a treaty.” Lord Tsutomu leaned closer again, conspiratorial, his grin turning almost feral, making no attempt to hide the way his gaze raked over Rin’s body. “I also hear that the foreigner does not warm your bed. That you still lie alone. That is, alone for now.” 

Lord Tsutomu reached out, his fingers trailing over the fold of Rin’s robe. And that was enough. Haru felt a strange flash of something hot and uncomfortable through him at the sight. An urge to put his body between the two men before him. 

Protection. Surely, he reasoned. He did not like to see someone try to take advantage of Rin’s good nature. 

That was all.

Clearing his throat, he stepped out from the shadows. 

“Husband. There you are. I have been seeking you.”

Rin turned surprised, Lord Tsutomu flinching away, and Haru watched as his face broke into a smile, the first real smile he had seen in weeks - relief and joy all in one. 

He felt a strange flutter at it, as if he were in danger of losing his dinner. 

“You were?”

“I was.” 

“Prince Haruka, you must meet Lord Tsutomu from the western territories. He is a great ally and friend of Samezuka.

Lord Tsutomu inclined in a shallow bow, making no attempt to hide his assessing look over Haru. Haru flattened his mouth into a tight line and held his gaze. 

“Ah, the third Prince of Iwatobi. Or was it fourth? I’m afraid I forget, I have heard so many things about you. How are you adjusting to life so far from home? Iwatobi are a cold blooded people are they not? It must be difficult for you here, since Samezuka is a much warmer climate.”

Rin bristled slightly beside him but Haruka reached out and placed a calming hand on his arm.

“You are right the people here are warm and welcoming. None more so than my husband who personally see’s that I am well satisfied in all things.” He answered back cooly, watching Lord Tsutomu’s eyes flash. 

He seemed to struggle for a moment, and then inclined his head in grudging defeat. 

“You are most blessed to find yourself in the Crown Prince’s esteems. I shall leave you to them.” He turned back to Rin, “Your highness, you know where to seek me should you wish to continue our conversation. My rooms are not far from your new quarters, I understand.” 

Rin inclined his head respectfully, but as soon as Lord Tsutomu was out of sight he exhaled hard. 

Haru on the other hand scowled after him openly. At the blatentness of the offer delivered right under his nose. 

“Thank you Haruka. I fear I have exhausted my usual excuses to Lord Tsutomu. He is a great ally to my people but …”

“He is trying to seduce you.” Haru replied hotly, his blood still racing with anger, feeling his cheeks heated a little. 

Rin blushed in response. 

“Ah, well I don’t… I suppose…” 

He finally took a breath and composed himself. 

“As the future King many people here want a great many different things from me. It is my job to hear them each out and not to offend them.” 

Rin seemed pleased by his answer, and reached out to motion for a couple of goblets of wine from a passing servant. He handed one to Haru with a smile. 

Haru took it absently, too focused on scanning around the room moodily, trying to see if he could identify who might proposition Rin next. 

“Then I will stay by your side.” He decided with finality. 

Rin tried (but failed) to hide how brightly he smiled in a well timed swig of wine. 

* * *

Rin looked across the courtyard, at the increasingly drunken merriment. 

He hated this day. Hated this time of year. 

All he wished was to be able to respect his father’s memory in peace, but grieving for the royal family was a public right, and for those than had not had to live through the events of the day they marked, the ceremony and subsequent feasting was an annual highlight. One of the few chances to all come together and rub shoulders with the other members of Samesuka’s most powerful houses - to agree deals and marriages and create alliances. Rin himself had been propositioned on more fronts that he would have liked already. 

And yet... he glanced to his side at Haruka who had stood stonily at his side ever since Lord Tsutomu had taken his leave. It made it easier somehow to face this when he was no longer alone, and it might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn far fewer people had dared approach him since they came together. 

Rin sipped from his latest cup of wine, and savored the slightly numbing buzz it brought. He wasn’t usually known to indulge, but with the warm air, the revelry, and the heaviness about his heart as he tried to forget the events of this day all those years ago he found the wine a welcome companion. 

It might have been the wine that was to blame. 

Because Rin didn’t understand it was happening before it was too late - one moment Haruka was solid by his side, the next Rin was being surrounded by members of the merchant collegia wanting to speak to him about divisions of trade, leading him away and insisting he must meet some craftsman or other. He tried to shift and look for Haruka without being overtly rude, but he was quickly swallowed up by the press of bodies around him. They had been split up. 

He forced himself to do his duty - to make polite talk, to consider their requests and explain his own positions - but he discharged the matter far quicker than his audience expected, leaving them exchanging puzzled glances, and quickly slipped away looking for Haruka. 

He was not where Rin had left him, in that quiet corners, and while the crowds did seem to be thinning, when he scanned the area he could pick out no familiar head of glossy black hair. 

_Had he left?_ He wondered. And it occurred to him with a certain heaviness that while he had been enjoying his husband’s company, Haruka may well have been finding the duty tiresome, a chore. 

Haruka’s surprise flashed in his minds eye. _“This is my punishment”_

Rin accepted another cup of wine from a servant as he looked, pulled into brief snatches of conversation and pleasantries as he walked, but he could not find him. 

He motioned for yet another fresh cup and retreated to a corner, watching the increasing drunkenness around him. People were laughing, dancing, calling for more music and more wine. He knew he should have been pleased that his court were happy, that this was a small reflection of the greater peace he and his father before him had achieved, but he felt a deep sadness wash over him. 

He wished for his father. He wished for _Haruka._

Unbidden, the Lord Tsutomu’s words came back to him. ‘ _The foreigner does not warm your bed, you sleep alone.’_

He kept drinking, and the more he drank the darker his thoughts became. 

_He was letting himself take false comfort. His father would be disappointed in him. His father who had prized family and love above all else, and here was Rin with a sham of marriage to a man who thought his company a punishment._

He kept himself together as long as he could bare, and then he slipped away. 

* * *

“.... I should work up something for you in blue. It would bring out your eyes. Or perhaps orange? Less obvious, but just as striking I assure you. I have some new dyes. How do you feel about orange?” 

Haru glared flatly at the pink haired man before him, before tilting to try and see where Rin had been pulled to. 

He had committed himself to staying at his side, and had been doing what he privately thought was an excellent job of seeing that nobody bothered him, before he had been rudely shoved aside by a group of men dressed in flowing scarlet robes. When he had tried to follow, they had blocked his way, bowing obsequiously to him but their words less than respectful, _this is not a discussion for Iwatobi ears_.

And now this. Kisumi the royal tailor had taken the opportunity to see his handiwork in person, forcibly dragging Haru under one of the torches so he could better see the fit. 

“You are narrow in the waist Prince Nanase, what is your preference for a sash, or a belt of some type?” 

Haru almost growled as, oblivious, Kisumi gripped him at the hips forcibly pushing him this way and that to better see his body. 

“And I think perhaps something on the shoulders?”

“Excuse me.” Haru bit out, eyes of thunder, “I must return to his highness.”

He left Kisumi still grinning and talking excitedly, as he pushed away from him and crossed back to the almost hidden cove where he had last been at Rin’s side. But he was nowhere to be seen. 

He looped the courtyard twice, before exploring the maze of interconnected gardens in search of Rin. He looked too for the group of men in the red robes that had first separated them, but they too evaded him. 

Despite himself, he also found himself searching for the head of glittering grey hair. For a reason he couldn’t yet fully acknowledge, it felt important to him that he and Rin not be discovered together. 

After several long and fruitless loops of the gardens, he headed back to the courtyard - avoiding several revellers who in their drunkenness seemed far less shy in expressing how they felt about him - before he spotted Sousuke. 

He headed directly for him - now that Miyako and Gou had long retired it seemed logical that Sousuke’s attentons would be focused back on the Prince. 

“Where is Rin?”

Sousuke’s brow furrowed. He looked uncommonly tired. 

“I last marked him with you. I have been seeing that our honoured guests depart safely.”

Haru’s expression must have slipped as Sousuke cocked his head and regarded him strangely. 

“You are...worried? You should not be. The guards have strict instructions not to leave him alone this night. Wherever he has chosen to seek respite he will be well watched over.” 

“And where would he go? For respite?” Haru pushed, even though he knew it was not his place. 

Sousuke stared at him strangely again. 

“His study, I expect. He says work takes his mind off… those things that he would prefer not to dwell on.” 

Haru didn’t even thank him, with an urgency he could not explain he set his jaw and stroad away. 

“You should leave him be.” Sousuke shouted after him, but he was already headed instead back inside the palace. 

* * *

Haru had only been admitted into Rin’s study a handful of times before - for privy council meetings or once when Rin had wanted to show him a particularly pretty scroll - but he surprised himself by how well he remembered the path that took him there. 

Reaching the door, he was struck by a sudden wave of nerves. Surely Rin had left for a reason? And Haru would not be welcome? 

But something deeper drove him on. Taking a breath he pushed into the room. 

Rin was hunched over at his large carved desk, a stack of papers in front of him though his eyes were unfocused and his hand was curled around a cup of wine. 

He looked flat and grey and nothing like Haru had seen. 

He startled at Haru’s intrusion, and for a heavy moment they simply gazed at one another, before Rin cut the silence. 

“What are you doing here?” 

Haru planted his feet more firmly, forced himself to keep meeting his gaze. 

“Sousuke said you are not to be left alone. Where are your guards?” 

Rin snorted and took a deep sip of wine. “I dismissed them. I _wished_ to be alone.” 

“R-….” Haru started, but he was quickly cut off. 

Rin placed the goblet back heavily on the desk and called out sharply, “Tell me.” 

“What?” the word came out softer, quieter than Haru expected. His heart was fluttering in his chest. 

Rin stayed staring at him. His words were soft around the edges, a little slurred, but his gaze was sharp and penetrating. 

“Since you are here, you can tell me. Tell me the worst you have heard about him.” 

“I… I do not understand.” 

“Tell me the rumours of Iwatobi. About my father.” 

Something in the look he gave compelled Haru to answer despite himself. He curled his palms into fists and spoke. 

“T-they say he was a murderer. That he killed all who disagreed with him.”

“And.”

“And that he died while trying to sack the great city of Fukuoka.” 

“And”

Haruka’s voice came thin, but he finally answered quietly. “Some say you killed him. For the throne.”

Rin flinched at that, stiffened before looking away.

“Thank you. That is all. Leave me.” 

Rin’s hand curled around the jug of wine at his side, fingers a little unsteady. Haru started. Rin had never asked him to leave before. Had never issued an order of any kind, though it was his right to do so. 

It was enough to ensure he did the exact opposite. He stepped closer and gently pulled the jug and the goblet from Rin’s hands. 

“Rin, come. You have had enough. You are tired. This work can wait.” 

Rin blinked at him owlishly. 

“There. You called me by my name again.”

That confused Haru. 

“Yes, as you told me that I could. And what else would I call you?” 

“You don’t. You don’t call me anything really. You still don’t ... care very much for me. Do you? I’m your punishment after all. Isn’t that so?” 

Rin pronounced the word in such a way - pun-ish-ment, lending stress to each syllable - that told Haru he had thought much on the matter since that night in the gardens. He floundered for a moment, unsure what to say. 

“Rin.... I know it is not true. None of it. So tell me what is. We do not ever speak of him. I wish to know about him.” 

Rin looked up surprised, and some of the distance in his expression was gone. But then his gaze slipped away. 

“Did you know that my grandfather died young too? I didn’t even get to meet him. And my father, he always promised me he wouldn’t....” Rin’s voice started to crack. “That he wouldn’t do that to me. Wouldn’t leave me. That he’d be here to teach me how to do…. this. All of this.” He motioned a little wildly at the papers in front of him. “But it was all lies. And it was my fa-” 

Rin cut himself off and screwed his eyes shut, and when that wasn’t enough, slung an arm over his face to hide the tears. 

Haru wondered if the polite thing to do might be to do as he had asked and leave him to his private grief, but instead he leaned forward and curled his fingers around Rin’s wrist. 

“It wasn’t lies Rin. He wouldn’t have left you. Not if he had a choice.” 

Haru thought of Rin then as he must have been as a young boy, scared and alone and covered in the blood of his father. He gripped on tighter. 

“Rin he loved you. He loved Gou. He loved your mother. You must know this.”

Rin bit his lip and sniffed hard behind his hand. Haru gently pulled his arm away from his face.

“Come Rin. Come with me now. It’s been a hard day. This work can wait. You should rest, sleep.” 

To his surprise Rin allowed himself to be pulled to standing, though once on his feet Haru could see how unsteady he really was. He had to sling one of his arms around his shoulder to take his weight and help mannouver him out of the room. He smelled of sweet almond oil, and florals, and something darker and spiced underneath. Haru forced himself to focus on the task at hand. 

Despite his best efforts, Rin insisted on bringing the jug of wine with them, clutching it to his chest and periodically taking deep mouthfuls of it as they stumbled unsteadily through the corridors. 

It was only once they had started walking that Haru realised his problem. He knew where Rin’s study was, but he had no idea of in which of the chambers Rin slept each night. 

True, he could have called out to one of the guards to ask, but something in him resisted the idea. Instead he led them down one of the only other routes he knew well. 

As they half-walked-half-stumbled, Haru was on high alert for who they might run into - he did not like the idea of some great noble or council member seeing Rin in such a vulnerable position - but they were lucky. They passed nobody other than the servants and guards still at their tasks who were duty bound to turn a blind eye, and one drunken couple too wrapped up in one another to notice the pair of princes that stumbled past, pressed so close their shadows became one. 

* * *

He was sweating lightly by the time they reached his chambers. He dismissed the servants as soon as they had opened the doors, working hard to keep Rin as steady as possible on his arm, and trying to ignore the implications of the two of them stumbling into his rooms late at night. 

Rin had started humming lightly to himself and seemed to have no arguments or complaints about the situation, simply letting Haru push and pull him as he would in order to get him through the antechamber and into the bedroom beyond. 

With not a small amount of effort, Haru was finally able to push him onto the great bed and stood panting lightly while Rin sat mildly sipping from the jug of wine. 

Haru sighed inwardly. 

What to do now. He really hadn’t planned this far, but now they were at the bed he couldn't help but notice that Rin was still fully dressed in his elaborate mourning gear and laden down with gold and jewels that could not be comfortable for sleep. 

The thought of trying to undress him caused him to blush furiously, and so his settled for simply crouching to unstrap his sandals. 

Rin looked down at him blearily. 

“Why don’t you smile more? You have a beautiful smile. So pretty. And I never see it. In all these months I’ve only seen it once.”

Haru worked hard to suppress said smile just then. Rin drunk was pouting childishly, a slight crease in his brow. He had never seen him look so young and so…. Well, _cute._

He righted himself, quickly rearranging his features. “I think that’s more than enough wine. Here.” 

He pulled the cup from Rin’s hand which only caused him to pout harder, and gently worked to remove the cuffs and the circlet, setting them all to the side. 

“There now. Lie back. It’s time to sleep.” 

Rin grumbled a little, but made no real protest as Haru arranged his limbs on the bed, before crossing the room to splash water on his face and slip onto the layers of sheets and furs beside him. 

Rin turned and gazed at him, hair and clothes rumpled, and expression unguarded. 

Haru knew it was perhaps unfair, but ever since that night in the gardens he had needed to know. Drunk Rin seemed more than willing to share his every thought, and lying there in his room together it somehow gave Haru the confidence he needed to ask. 

“Rin, I need to know something. You asked me why I consented to marry. Won’t you tell me the same thing? Because I have thought of it and it doesn’t make sense. You love romance. You think finding your one true love is the most important thing… so why would you then consent to this union? I could have been married to the Princess as my father planned and you would have been free to find your true love. But instead you chose this… I cannot understand it. And none of your people wish it. Why did you do this?”

Rin’s eyes widened with almost comical shock “Haruka! Gou is my sister! I could not condemn her to an arrangement. A life without love. She deserves the chance to find her true match. I tried so hard to find loophole but ...” 

He then gave a bitter, snorting sort of laugh that did not suit him, closing his eyes and saying sleepily. “And besides, I had hoped… l had thought perhaps if I tried hard enough, if I did everything just right, that perhaps this was to become my love story instead. Foolish I know.” 

Haru could think of no reply to that and so he stayed silent, watching as Rin’s features seemed to settle. 

_A life without love._ Haru thought. _Is that was this was?_ How little did Rin know how lucky he was to feel such love for his family, to have them love him so wholly in return. 

He felt that strange, uncomfortable pressure against his ribs again, and tried to push it away. But one thought remained insistant. 

Rin deserved to be loved. 

Of anyone, this was a person who deserved love utterly and completely. 

* * *

They hadn’t shared a room, a bed, since their wedding night, when Rin had curled up so small it was as if he was trying very hard not to be there at all.

Rin after numerous cups of wine was very different. He sprawled across far more than his share of the bed, limbs tangling up in all the sheets so that Haru was forced to curl around him however he might.

He didn’t mind it as much as he expected to. He watched the man sleeping next to him, his face so much younger and more vulnerable looking in rest than he was when commanding the attention of rooms. It was easy to forget sometimes he was still so young. Younger than Haru himself even by some months. 

A little of the gold paint used to line Rin’s eyes had migrated down to his cheek, leaving glittery tear tracks on his skin. Haru reached out and gently rubbed it away. Rin made a soft, snuffling sound and shifted ever so slightly into the touch, but stayed fast asleep. 

It was captivating, and Haru felt the pressure that had been growing in his chest threaten to burst. It had been ebbing and flowing for weeks now, but ever present. 

He shifted to lie on his back and stared instead at the ceiling, listening to the quiet rhythm of Rin’s breath. 

This wasn’t how it was meant to be. He was as good as banished to this place. Practically abandoned in favour of the hope of power and influencer.

He was not supposed to like it. Not any little part of it. Even if Rin’s body was warm and his smell was strangely comforting and familiar. 

Even if he found he had to resist the urge to curl up closer towards him. 

No, Haru stayed on his back and forced his mind to think of home. To focus on all that he missed still so much that it hurt. 

Ikuya. Rei. Nagisa. Swims in the sea. Going to the market. Sneaking out into the town. Makoto. Makoto who knew him better most days than he knew himself. Who would know what to say, or do about the way he felt now. 

He felt the pain of it and gripped it tight. Because that feeling was right. It made sense. 

And it distracted him from the body on the bed beside him. 

* * *

Rin woke slowly, confused by the familiarity of his own bed, his own chambers. His head was pounding, and he struggled to pull together the events of the night before. 

He ran his hand over his face, groaning lightly as understanding of how it was that he had come to be here arrived in flashes. He forced himself up to sitting. Haruka was nowhere to be seen, though a jug of water and a cup had been placed by his bedside. 

He drank deep and grateful, before swinging out of bed to splash his face and try to flatten his hair. 

Looking about the room, he couldn’t help but note how little it had changed since he had last occupied the rooms. It didn’t much look like Haruka had even unpacked, the chests of his belongings stacked neatly in the corner. Only the bundle of paints, inks and parchments he himself had gifted were left out on display to show anyone other than Rin occupied the space. 

As he looked around, he became aware of a soft sort of music drifting into the room, and his heart jumped with nerves. He checked his appearance in the great bronze mirror (despairing a little at the shadows under his eyes and the mess of his hair) before slowly crossing the room and pushing through the doors into the antechamber.

He found Haruka sat at the window, playing the lyre and staring out and the view beyond. 

He recognised the instrument. It had been his father’s. He had used it to play love songs for his mother.

But Haruka wasn’t playing a love song. He was playing the saddest song Rin had ever heard. Each note haunting and mournful. 

Rin was transfixed, even as the scene before him broke his heart. 

Haruka looked beautiful. But he also looked miserable, the unhappiness flowing off him in waves along with the melancholy song as he thought himself unobserved. 

Rin waited for him to finish before he spoke. The words came heavy. 

“You remain unhappy here.” 

Haruka did not seem surprised to be interrupted, and turned only slightly. “It is not my home.”

“You miss it so badly?” 

“I miss the sea.”

Rin stepped forward and reached for his hand, but Haru’s fingers inched away, as if instinctively curling into himself. 

Rin pulled his hand back, but tried once more, asking softly, “Please, tell me how I can help?”

“There is nothing to be done. Please do not concern yourself with it.” Haruka answered, turning away, offering Rin only the sharp angles of his profile. 

He was closing off again. Rin wondered if perhaps he had said something, or done something while too intoxicated to watch his actions that might have affected this change. 

“Haruka I am your husband. Even if it is in name only, your happiness is important to me. Please, allow me to help. Or at least to try.” Rin replied softly. Haruka turned to him, eyes wide with surprise, before narrowing as if trying to see if he was genuine. 

“I miss my friends. I wish to see them again.”

Rin exhaled, the pressure from his chest easing a little. He smiled broadly. 

“Then we shall arrange a visit. You should write to them immediately, at my invitation. They could be here within the month!”

Rin was smiling and full of energy. Haruka watched him with something like wonder.

“This makes you happy?” he asked, tone lifted with surprise. 

Rin beamed back at him. “Of course. You have told me how I can better things for you. I will send for a messenger right away” 

* * *

As Rin hurried to summon a servant Haru stayed where he was, puzzled. That his own happiness could really means so much. That something so simple could really bring Rin such joy… It did not make sense. 

And his own reaction, the way his heart sped to see Rin so pleased, made even less sense. 

He closed his eyes, running his fingers absently over the lyre and prayed Makoto could come soon. That Rei and Nagisa and Ikuya too would be able to fly to his side and help him untangle the increasingly knotting feelings in his gut. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taking me so long between updates and thank you so much for the kind comments / support on this fic to this point x


	5. V: Philia

Despite Rin’s optimistic determination, it took more than a month. It was closer to two by the time a visit from an Iwatobi delegation was confirmed.

It had been a battle to have the visit agreed. Despite it being an order direct from Rin, certain members of the Samezuka royal council had expressed in the strongest terms their distrust of having ‘more Iwatobi spies’ in their midst. 

Haru had watched - ever quiet but ever observant - as Rin tried his hardest to shield him from the heated discussions that preceded the final agreement for a non-state, informal visit. Haru was no fool though, and knew that whenever Rin would gently suggest he not need to bother joining him for a meeting, it likely meant that he and his countrymen were top of the agenda. 

Despite such complexities as needing council support, agreed the visit finally was; letters sent and received confirming that Makoto, Ikyua, Nagisa and Rei would be making the journey to come and see Haru in his new home. 

The news sent Haru’s heart soaring with hope. He had missed his friends with a deep, aching pain that had been hard to ignore, and had shrouded him like a thick cloak of misery since his arrival. The knowledge that they were winging their way towards him with each day that passed settled his spirits, and in turn for the weeks it took for the delegation to make the journey Haru felt the closest to peaceful since his arrival in Samezuka. 

With the promise of a visit from his friends, it was as if he was suddenly able to push to one side the stubborn voice in his head that constantly demanded that he wonder if it was ok to enjoy talking with Rin, if it was strange to have begun to feel at home in his company, if he was doing something wrong by looking forward to their time together. The voice that insisted he fight against the flutter in his chest that was an increasingly familiar occurrence in Rin’s presence. 

Instead, for a golden few weeks he felt able to just allow the situation to ‘be’ exactly as it was. Safe in the knowledge that soon he would be able to talk to the people that knew him best, he didn’t need to question every interaction. He ignored the judgement of the court and focussed on his own personal routine – walking to breakfast with Rin, long soaks in the baths before either joining Rin in his meetings or spending long lazy afternoons drawing or painting or reading. After dinner at court (that Haru still had no love for) he and Rin fell into a habit of walking the gardens together, or stopping by the library to read or play games of dice. He enjoyed watching Rin shrug off his formal, royal self and get silly and stubborn and competitive, safe in the privacy that the rooms afforded them. They would compete to tell the scariest stories, tell the rudest jokes they knew, to swap tales of how as children they each had in their own ways caused their royal tutors to despair. 

He would find himself watching as Rin lay back on his elbows and laughed, firelight flickering over skin, highlighting the delicate beauty of his features. Their eyes might meet and Rin would always flush before looking away or blustering forward into a new topic of conversation. In these moments, Haru could almost forget the awkwardness that had come before - their wedding night, his confession, Rin’s drunken explanation and just enjoy the golden-feeling moment. Seeing Rin happy did something to his insides that he couldn’t explain - or couldn’t yet fully admit to himself.

He enjoyed seeing it all the same. 

These moments felt particular precious to him, as he knew that Rin was not always at peace. His coming of age, and so his coronation, was less than two seasons away, and in the bright of the sunlight the Crown Prince was starting to look more and more tired each day. It was clear to everyone around him that he was working far too hard. As long as Haru had been in Samezuka he had seen that Rin was diligent - a dedicated ruler - but this was something else. Early mornings, days full of meetings, meals recently interrupted for urgent conversations. That Rin was spending more of his time with Haru did not magically make these demands lessen, and more than once he knew Rin would leave their evenings together to return to his study to continue reviewing papers and proposals and disputes. 

Haru couldn’t help but feel some guilt, aware that no small number of internal disputes held himself at their centre… 

One night, unable to sleep, Haru had slipped from his bed and followed the corridors and paths he no longer found strange. He knocked softly on the door of Rin’s study and, getting no answer, ignored the eyes of the guards to push into the room. 

He found Rin crumpled over his desk, cheek pressed against the latest papers he had been reading, quill still limply resting in his hand, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. He was sleeping. 

Haru felt the tenderness again then, laced with a strange sort of protectiveness impulse. For while Rin was looking after a whole Kingdom, who was looking after Rin? 

He crept forward and - with only a small beat of hesitation - failed to stifle the impulse to reach out and gently tuck a strand of hair behind Rin’s ear. Rin snuffled slightly, but did not stir. Looking about the room, Haru spotted a heavy woven blanket. He fetched it and gently wrapped it over Rin’s shoulders, so he would not be cold. He allowed himself a moments more pause, before he crept from the room. 

“See that he is not disturbed in the morning. The prince needs to rest.” He ordered the guards, unsure if they would heed his word or not, and then returned to his chambers. 

That night he lay sleeplessly battling himself. He thought of the two nights they had lain together in the very bed that felt suddenly too big and empty for just himself alone. He wondered if the right thing to have done would have been to have woken Rin. Ordered him to come with him or go to his own chambers to sleep properly. But every scenario he thought of left him feeling too vulnerable. Too exposed to his growing tangle of emotions over Rin. 

_His husband._

The word no longer seemed as scary, as distasteful or threatening as it once had to him. But it didn’t fit them right either. He wished he could forget about their stations. Their families. The treaty. He wishes that he could believe that they were just any other young pair getting to know one another. 

He closed his eyes and willed himself to instead picture in his mind's eye what Makoto must be doing right then. Probably camped out, Nagisa keeping them all awake with his chatter. Ikuya sneaking off to feed the horses extra treats - thought he would always vehemently deny he had such a soft heart. 

Their arrival would help, he told himself. They could see for themselves. Could put his fears to rest. 

He wasn’t sure why he believed so strongly that his friends would prove to be the antidote to his confusion, but he had almost convinced himself that all would be well on their arrival. 

That was until the incident. 

* * *

It had started as any other previous trip to the oasis. They had ridden out hard, and spent a morning enjoying each others company with races and competition. 

They were riding leisurely back, trading light conversation, Haru feeling sun warmed and sated. He had almost slipped into mindless daydreaming when he noticed Rin suddenly stiffen beside him. He pulled Winny to a stop. Haru followed suit on Chappy.

“Rin, what is -”

“Shhh!” Rin held a finger to his lips, eyes sharp and looking around.

The next moments were chaos. 

Haru was aware of a shout, the feeling of wind whistling beside his ear, and then Rin was launching himself from Winny’s back and tackling Haru off Chappy and down to the ground. 

They hit hard. Haru coming up spluttering, the wind knocked from his lungs. But Rin didn’t give him a moment to rest. 

“There. NOW” 

He guided them - half dragging Haru- behind a rock formation while Chappy and Winny scattered. 

It was only once they were pressed against the rocks and panting that Haru noticed Rin was hurt. There was a bloom of bright red forming on his chiton. Haru reached for him in a panic and realised that the shaft of an arrow was buried into his scapula. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but Rin’s eyes widened in panic. He pressed his hand over Haru’s mouth and turned to look back over to where they had come, wincing in pain as he moved. 

Two men emerged from the rock formations to the south. Their faces were covered and they were speaking a dialect Haru didn’t understand. 

Rin looked at him, and for the first time Haru saw fear in his eyes. 

“Haruka run.” He hissed through gritted teeth. “You have to run.”

Haru looked at the blood spreading over Rin’s chest, he glanced back at the two men who were stalking closer. He could feel the adrenaline running through him, the blood pumping loud in his ears. He made up his mind. 

Haru pushed Rin back against the rock as gently as he could. He reached for the dagger fixed to his thigh.

He had been careful to always keep it hidden, bundled in his clothes when he swam or used the baths so not even Rin knew he kept it on him. That he slept with it under his pillow. He started to move away, towards the mercenaries who were prowling ever closer, but Rin grasped at him wildly.

“No…No Haruka, run. Get Chappy and run. I’ll…I’ll delay them.” 

Haru pressed their foreheads together, pulling Rin’s hand from where it gripped him. 

“I will return to you”

He did not wait for further reply. 

Pulling himself from Rin’s weakened grip, Haru darted forward.

He felt quick with purpose. His mind strangely calm. Oddly blank. All he could think was - _Rin._ He had to protect Rin. 

The first man went down quickly. A few surface cuts for distraction. A blow to the head. 

The second man, by virtue of having had warning, put up more of a fight. Haru felt his muscles scream as he was forced to twist and dodge. 

But ultimately it was still a Prince versus a common brawler. Haru saw the opening and took it with no hesitation and little regret.

He wiped his blade on his chiton and turned to find Rin, who had limped a few paces toward him blood now running freely down his side. 

Haru caught him as he stumbled. 

“You.. that was… Haruka where did you learn this?”

Haru ignored the questions, far more concerned by how laboured Rin’s breathing was sounding, and he scanned the area wildly. It seemed there were no more men, and he could still just about make out Chappy and Winny away up in the distance.

“Hush Rin. You are hurt. Settle here.” 

He eased Rin back down against one of the rocks, and seeing that the wound - though it bled freely - did not seem to have hit anything mortal, he scanned the area closest to them. Finally he saw what he was looking for, one of the arrows that had not hit its target. It was a nasty. Sharp flint designed with a spur so that it stuck into the flesh. Haru sniffed it, and ran his finger cautiously over the surface. It didn’t seem to be cured in poison, but it was hard to be sure. 

He turned to Rin, who already looked a little pale and waxy, and tried to do the calculations in his head. They were maybe only ten or fifteen millarium from Rin’s guards, but it was at least another twenty after that to Samezuka. If the tip was poisoned, it needed to come out far sooner than they could complete the ride. 

He rested a palm lightly against Rin’s uninjured side. 

“You are hurt, and I cannot be sure that the flint is not poisoned. Will you consent for me to remove it.” 

Rin frowned lightly, though the ghost of the fear that had been in his eyes remained. 

“It is nothing I am… Argh.” He winced as he tried to raise his arm in support of his point, Haru lurched forward to catch it. 

“Rin please. I know what to do. And I will be as gentle as I can. Please, will you trust me?” 

Rin had started to sweat lightly. He looked from his wound to Haru. They locked eyes. 

Finally, Rin nodded. 

Haru didn’t hesitate in getting to work. He ripped a length of cloth from his chiton and twisted it, tying it tightly under Rin’s armpit and around his collarbone to do what he could to stem the flow of the bleeding. 

Then he took his dagger and held on to the feathered shaft of the arrow. Rin bit his lip, stifling a groan as Haru sawed through the thin cedar shaft. 

He then readied a second twist of material and offered it to Rin. 

“Bite down.” 

Rin paused for a moment, and then obediently took it into his mouth. 

Haru braced himself against Rin’s shoulder. They shared one sharp gaze. And then Haru pushed. Rin groaned, head falling to Haru’s shoulder as he shook. Haru ignored it and kept pushing, knowing that there was no kindness in slowing down. 

As the pointed tip finally burst forth from Rin’s shoulder, Haru grasped it and pulled steadily, checking to make sure nothing of the wood was left inside the wound. Once the arrow was finally freed, Rin spat out the cloth and turned his head to the side to vomit with the pain of it. 

Haru politely turned away and busied himself by tearing more strips from his chiton to press and bind against the wound. Rin was breathing fast, a light sheen of sweat over his skin, but he grinned weakly. 

“You are good at this you know.” 

“Fighting?”

“No. Ah, well yes. But, my meaning was healing. Where did you learn?”

Haru could not quite meet his gaze. “My mother is sickly. I spent much of my youth with her in the palace infirmary.”

Rin reached and grasped his arm. 

“Haruka, thank you.” 

Haru stiffened at the thanks, and then turned away, scanning back to where Winny and Chappy were a way off from them. 

‘Rin, I need to gather our mounts, Will you be ok for a moment? Hold pressure to the wound.”

Rin raised his hand and pressed as hard as he could to his shoulder, biting his lip to hide the pain. Unable to talk, he nodded, and Haru set off at a run to collect their camels. 

His legs felt shaky as he ran, scanning the horizon all around, hair standing on end and alert for any sign that he had misjudged. Any movement that might suggest they were not in fact alone. 

As he approached the two camels, he could see they too were jumpy, flanks twitching with nerves. He forced himself to slow his breathing, to be calm so that his calmness might wash over them. 

A few times they danced nervous steps out of his reach, huffing and spitting at the ground. But they did not run from him, and on his third attempt he was able to grasp the reins and pull them back toward him. 

“It’s ok. Its all ok. It’s just me. We need to go and get your master, ok? He’s ok too. It’s all ok.” He soothed. 

He petted the two camels, allowing them to nuzzle into him and unsure if was talking more to them too to himself. His heart was racing fast. The image of the blood spread across Rin’s chest burned into his eyelids. He rode them back swifter than was likely kind, and was relieved to see that Rin was still conscious, though collapsed back against the rock, his arms curled against himself. 

It was a clumsy, awkward business, but Haru was finally able to get Rin up into the saddle and to settle behind him, thighs pressed right to Rin’s, and arms wrapped around him to take the reins. 

Haru trotted the camels as quickly as he dared, trying his hardest not to jostle Rin too much, and overly conscious of every little jolt. The blood had started to bleed through their makeshift bandage, and Rin was silent and rigid against Haru, his jaw tight with pain.

When they finally reached the approach of the guard point, Haru waved and shouted bringing them thundering towards them. He was guilty relieved that Sousuke was not among them. The horror of the Mikoshiba brothers and their companion was enough to behold. They pulled Rin from his arms and galloped away so hard Haru was forced to kick Chappy more than he was comfortable with to keep up. 

The whole ride back Haru found himself praying and bargaining with every god he had ever heard of that the arrow not be poisoned. That the wound would not fester. That Rin would be ok. And in those moments, he realised he was far past the point of being able to lie and call himself indifferent to the Prince. 

* * *

Once back at the palace, Rin was spirited away to the infirmary and Haru was pulled aside and grilled for what felt like hours on the details of the attack. _What route they had been taking. What then men had been wearing. Had they said anything? What dialect did they speak? Why had he not taken their weapons?_

The questions seemed to go round in circles, until more guards arrived and then suddenly the line of questioning became more weighted. 

_Why was Rin hurt when he himself was unharmed? Why had he not protected the prince over himself? Why had he only brought back the arrow head, and not the shaft? Did he recognise the men? Did he know their tribe? Had he known there were mercenaries in the area that day?_

“He saved me.” Haru had to explain over and over. “He saw the arrow first and he jumped and knocked me from its path.” 

The guards exchanged worried glances. 

“Councillor Trajan will want to speak with you. He will need to hear all this for himself.” 

Haru tried to argue, all he wanted was to go to the infirmary to be at Rin’s side, but they ignored him, and it was only as he was being escorted to the council chambers he realised with a sinking heart that the events that had transpired might be twisted to work against him. 

* * *

Rin had been woozy on the ride back to Samezuka, and barely registered who was taking him where. He only got woozier as his trusted physician gave him medicine to slow the rush of his heart, and freshly cleaned and packed his wound. 

He slept, unsure how long for, before waking to a great commotion in the infirmary. 

Gou stormed into the room, guards quivering and darting out of her path and as Rin pulled himself up to sitting, good arm open to accept the hug his anticipated, she promptly slapped him across the face. Hard.

“Brother what were you thinking! We could have lost you! Samezuka could have lost its king and more than that I almost lost my brother!”

“Gou I’m ok! I’m fine.”

She hugged him then, being careful as she could of his injured side. “Some are saying you took the arrow on purpose! That you put yourself in harms way!”

“I... I didn’t have time to think.”  
  
Pulling back to look at him, Gou placed a hand on his cheek and sighed. “Oh gods you truly are in love with him aren't you? This isn’t just willingness anymore… you actually fell in love with him.” 

Rin, seeing as he wasn’t going to win this, said nothing allowing his face to answer for him. 

“Even though he does not yet love you?” She asked as gently as she could. 

They had never been the type to mince words.

Rin took the blow. He lifted his chin and looked his sister square in the eye and spoke the truth of the matter. 

“Even so. For my life I would not see him harmed.”

* * *

After finally being released to his chambers - and only to his chambers as he was firmly informed - Haru spent the hours pacing. 

Logic told him when he had last seen Rin he had been fine - or as close to fine as the circumstance allowed - but as the sun and shadows crept across the floor and there was still no news, he started to convince himself that something had gone wrong. Perhaps the arrow had been tipped after all, a slower acting poison. Or perhaps he had missed something and the wound was going to become infected. 

He was just about ready to damn the order, damn the guards and fight his way to the infirmary if needed when there came a knock at his door. 

Aii, the young grey haired royal assistant stepped into the room. 

“Prince Nanase, forgive the intrusion but his highness is asking for you. I am come to escort you to him.” 

Haru didn’t wait to be told twice. He swept out the room leaving Aii skittering to catch up. 

At the entrance to the infirmary, the grey haired man stopped him, a hand placed on his arm and then quickly, shyly, removed. 

“May I speak freely Prince Nanase?”

Surprised, Haru nodded.

“I hear you saved him. And I wanted to thank you. His highness … he is a good man. He will be a good King. He is well loved and to lose him so young…” Aii looked almost tearful at the mere thought of losing his master. He bowed low. 

“Thank you Prince.” 

Haru could only nod with slight awkwardness - he wasn’t used to kind words or gratitude in the palace - and pushed forward into the infirmary. 

Compared to the grand, but simple rooms of the rest of the palace, the infirmary seemed cluttered and cramped. Full of scrolls and books and bottles and jars and its walls rough hewn sandstone rather than the smooth marble that filled most of the rest of the palace. 

Rin’s physician, Nao, was a kindly, smiley man who was surprising young for such high station. He spoke softly to Haru and led him back to a private room closed off by thick woven hangings to where Rin was propped up in a bed, covered in fine blankets and with his shoulder and upper arm wrapped in tightly wound bandages. 

“His Highness is recovering well. He tells me that you yourself extracted the arrow. If I may Prince Nanase, it was very fine work. I could find no trace of splinters or additional tearing of the flesh. The arrow was not poisoned thank the gods, but if it had been you could well have made the difference between life and death.” 

Haru didn’t reply, only stared at Rin. 

He really was ok. 

“I will leave you now.” Nao bowed “But I am only in the next room should you have need of me.” 

Haru barely registered him leaving. He continued to stare at Rin. 

When he could finally speak, his voice came out flat, harsher than he intended. 

“The arrow was meant for me.” 

It wasn’t a question. Rin looked away. “I am well Haruka.” 

“Why would you risk yourself. Did you not think of your people? Your family? They need you I… ” Haru trailed off, the heat leaking out from his words. He couldn’t understand it at all. 

Rin still did not meet his gaze. Only looked down at his hands, cheeks high with colour. 

“I did not have time to think. Only I… I could not lose someone I loved again. Not like that.”

Haru felt the wind knocked from him. He let the confession hang between them, eyes blow wide and unable to tear away from Rin’s which had finally looked to him, deep with vulnerability. 

He felt the pressure build in his chest again. The truth on the tip of his tongue. 

“Rin I…”

Rin held up his good hand and interrupted. 

“Haruka wait. I do not say this to you to make you uncomfortable. It is only…today for a moment I was not sure what would happen to us and I wanted you to know. I do not expect you to return my feelings right now. But ... thrown together as we are - do you think one day we might… that there may be hope of my feelings being returned?” 

Haru’s mind blanked again. He opened his mouth to speak….

But neither he nor Rin were destined to learn what he was about to say. 

Sousuke marched into the room, face grave. He threw a glancing glare at Haru and then addressed Rin. 

“We have a problem. Councillor Trajan is calling this Iwatobi plot. He is not alone” 

The moment shattered. 

Rin tore his gaze from Haru and sat up in the bed. “What? Sousuke where has this come from?”

“It's a question of timing. Mere weeks after the Prince writes to his father, when we know Iwatobi are headed to us, you are attacked on a route that only you and he knew you had planned to be on. You must see how this looks.” 

Rin’s face hardened. “This was not Haruka’s doing. The arrow was aimed at him. He fought to protect me. He saved my life” 

Haru had frozen. He had gone from feeling closer to Rin than ever before, to be discussed as if he was not even there. And worse than that, the thought that there were those among the court of Samezuka that truly believed him to be capable of plotting against Rin… it made his blood run cold. 

“We need to rethink the Iwatobi delegation. Now is not the time. The council will need to be reasoned with.”

“No. They are here at my invitation. Councillor Trajan has made his feelings clear on this and his words have no sway. He will not use my injury against me.”

“It’s not your injury he is using. It is your weakness for him.” 

Sousuke gestured at Haru, his frustration clear. Haru bristled, but once again Rin got there first. 

“Sousuke you overstep.” 

“No, I am here to warn you. The Councillor spoke with the Prince and found him unconvincing. Now he is telling anyone who will listen that you are recklessly heading toward your own demise for the sake of pleasing him. You may not like him but he has held his office longer than we have been alive. His words have sway even if they do not have truth.” 

“So I am to allow my actions to be dictated by falsehoods? Is that what it is to be King?” Rin snapped. 

“That’s not what I mean and you know it very well. I told you continuing these visits to the oasis were foolish, and you did not listen to me then. You will listen to me now.”

Haru curled into himself with discomfort. While he had become somewhat used to the familiar way Rin allowed his family and some of his closest advisors to address him, this was something else. If Sousuke had dared to speak to a member of Haru’s own family in this way - regardless of how long they had known one another - he would have found himself thrown in the cells. 

Worse than that, he was no small part of the subject of their argument. He had not known Sousuke had counselled Rin against their visits to the oasis - visits he cherished so much but suspected must now be ended. 

He thought of Rin pressed against the rocks, bleeding and with panic in his eyes. _“Someone I loved…”_ He felt his chest ache with the meaning of it all. Of what it must have been for Rin to lose his father that way. To go through what had happened this day. And now to be forced to defend his decisions due to Haru’s own presence. 

As Rin and Sousuke fell to arguing Haru turned quietly left the room. He needed to think and he could not do it there. 

He headed for the baths. 

* * *

He didn’t know how long he floated there, only that by the time he left the palace was quiet and the corridors empty save for the presence of the guards at their stations and the servants going from room to room to douse the fires. 

He returned to his chambers and didn’t call for food or drink. Instead he lay back on his bed, still warm and damp from the baths, and let the exhaustion of the day hit. The heady swoops from joy to panic to relief to … what. He wondered what it was he felt in that quite dark. 

He played Rin’s awkward, halting confession to him over in his mind. He wondered if it was only the drugs and the adrenalin of the situation speaking. He wondered if it was true. 

He wondered at what it meant about himself that he hoped it to be. 

He did not sleep well, and was up before the dawn. He sat at the window in the receiving chamber and waited for the sun to make it’s slow emergence. Then he would go to the infirmary he determined. He would go and see that Rin was well and if he were to speak of his feelings again, he swore to himself that he would answer him as best he could. 

His heart clenched at the thought, and he hoped that the gods would help him reach for words that could capture the strange mess of feelings that emerged whenever he thought on Rin. 

He was lost to this musing, and at first did not notice the knocking at his door. But as it grew in urgency he turned his attention and called out wearily. “Enter.” 

Aii walked into the room looking solemn, as he often did when charged with official business. Haru guessed it was news of Rin, before moments later the man himself walked in. 

“His majesty the Crown Prince.” Aii announced, somewhat unnecessarily. Haru was already staring wide-eyed at Rin. 

Without thinking he stood and rushed the few steps to his side, gripping onto his good arm. 

“Sit, sit you must rest. Why are you not with Nao?”

Rin allowed himself to be directed to the window seating where Haru himself had been, and with a wave of his hand dismissed Aii. 

“I am well Haruka, and the palace must see that I am well. The longer I stay there the worse the rumours will be. I came to see if you would take breakfast in the hall with me.”

Haru’s eyebrows pinched. He understood what Rin was doing - a public display of unity could help to relax not only the word of the attack on Rin, but also the rumour of Haru’s part in it. But it still seemed far too soon, Rin’s injured arm was curled protectively into his chest, and he was clearly still in some pain. 

“I … can we not take breakfast here? You should not push yourself.” He tried. But Rin just smiled at him softly. 

“I am well Haruka.” He repeated, and then his expression turned grave. “And I am sorry about yesterday. About what Sousuke said. About the way some of my council has acted. Please do not worry, I have told them how you acted in my interest. How you saved me. And your friends are still very welcome here. They will already be close by now. I would not send them away.” 

Haru looked at his hands remembering the argument. The trouble Rin had taken onto his shoulders to see that his countrymen could cross into his land. He wanted to return somehow to the conversation they had had in the infirmary, but they suddenly felt worlds apart again. All the realities of their situation pressing back in on him. 

“Haruka?” Rin prompted after the silence had pressed on too long. 

He looked up at Rin’s open, kind expression and even then he could not find the words he needed to say. So instead he replied simply, “Let’s to breakfast.” 

* * *

Despite Rin’s bright confidence that there was nothing to be concerned with, both that morning and throughout the days that followed Haru heard more and more whisperings about the attack being a plot of his homeland. About the impending arrival of more of his countrymen. 

Despite Rin being vocal about Haru’s role in getting him safely back to the palace, it seemed even his testimony was not enough to combat generations of distrust and dislike. The problem was that while they accepted Rin’s word with their heads because he was their ruler - and they knew him to be honest and true - they did not feel it in their hearts. Instead, suspicions festered that Haru was the cause of Rin’s blindness to the truth of the matter. That Rin had been unfairly bewitched.

Haru could tell. It was there in the way the guards watched his every move, the way that even the servants seemed flighty in his presence. The way that conversations seemed to abruptly end, only to start up again in whispered tones whenever he entered a room. 

Rin for his part was undeterred, insisting that Haru keep close by him, refusing all offers of aid to support his injured side and instead working longer hours than ever, speaking vocally about his hopes that the impending visit would signal a new chapter in the relations between Iwatobi and Samezuka. 

In private, in the few and far between moments they were able to steal together, he was more matter of fact. 

“The atmosphere is hostile it is true. We will need to manage this visit carefully to prove that our two countries can be friends. But I have faith Haruka. These friends of yours can only help to show my land has nothing to fear. They are using what happened with the attack as a means to vocalise their fears of change. That is all. And it will pass Haruka.” 

He promised these things repeatedly, but Haru was not so sure. If he had not endeared himself to the court before, now it seemed they were actively suspicious of him, and he could not help but worry that their hate of him would translate to a less than warm welcome to his friends. 

* * *

On the morning that the Iwatobi delegation were finally to arrive, Rin could see Haruka was tense. He dressed not in the plain, light chiton he had become accustomed to seeing him in, but instead arrived at the great hall clothed in the Iwatobi style - a blue tunic with collars and cuffs that laced tight, almost no skin exposed to the warm breeze. The change made him apprehensive. He tried to tell himself it was only natural that Haruka would wish to greet his friends this way, and yet still…. It made him feel distant. It reminded Rin of how he had been on their wedding day - beautiful but cold. Untouchable. 

Rin had himself been fussed over for hours ahead of the arrival, wrapped into a new royal chiton of pale golden-yellow silk, his arm no longer bound to his chest and his wound carefully covered by a long flowing red cloak that spilled over one shoulder. 

They sat side by side on the dias of the great hall waiting for the heralds call. Haruka uncharacteristically seemed unable to stay still, fidgeting with his ring in the habit of his that always caused Rin unease. He was also sulking slightly at this arrangement. He had wanted to head down to meet the delegation directly at the gates, but Rin would not allow it. He was already testing the limits of his councils goodwill by allowing the visit. They would not now stand to see the rules of Xenia overlooked. The rights of Xenia demanded that any guests from foreign lands must present themselves to Rin in the great hall and formality petition him for shelter. And that was where they must wait, thankfully not under the eyes of the whole court, but with only Sousuke, Aii, his mother, Gou and a few guards and council members in attendance. 

The atmosphere was heavy still, tense with anticipation for how this long debated visit would play out. The accusations of plot and harm from Iwatobi unavoidably cast a long shadow over the arrival, no matter that Rin had taken pains to publicly correct them. 

Finally, just as the wait had started to feel unbearable (though it could not in reality have been all that long) the heralds sounded and the great doors swung open. 

A troupe of four young men walked forward. Rin felt, more than saw, the way Haruka lit up at his side, leaning forward and visibly suppressing the urge to jump up. 

Rin scanned the visitors. These men who meant so much to Haruka. They stood tall, gazes fixed forward and calmly ignoring the whispers from the group gathered to greet them. There was something uneasy in their bearing though. Nerves not quite fully suppressed. 

“Crown Prince of Samezuka, please grant us audience. We come from the royal house of Iwatobi seeking shelter. We request the right to give gifts and present to the royal house of Samezuka.”

One of the taller men stepped forward, he had a shock of dark hair. His voice was tight and formal, though he spoke with confidence and gave a sweeping, flourishing bow of the kind Rin had only previously seen from Haruka. 

Rin nodded and gestured silently for them to continue. 

They came forward one by one and presented gifts. The one who had spoken first gave a great burnished bowl and declared himself a soldier. A shorter, fine featured blonde gave rolls of silks and spoke of being an entertainer. A quiet, dark haired boy gave great oak barrels of wine - a merchant. Then finally the tallest, sandy haired man stepped forward. He did not meet Rin’s eye, looking only at Haruka and announced himself a personal guard to the royal family. He gave a beautiful polished shield - “for protection” he said gruffly, still staring at Haruka. 

Rin barely registered the finery they placed before him. He was far too distracted with the way Haruka was practically vibrating with tension in his seat. 

When the time came, he stood and gestured out to them with open arms. 

“We accept your gifts with gratitude and call you friend. Now, please be at ease. You are most welcome to our lands and into our royal home. Come now, let us share food and wine.” 

The formalities duly dispensed with, there was a brief clammer as servants hurried to provide trays filled with cups of wine, and the watching council members were dismissed to their chambers to give the party some presentation of privacy. Haruka used the opportunity to finally rise and step forward. He was quickly absorbed in a rush of chatter and hugs, his friends rushing to hold him in their embrace. 

Only the tall sandy haired man stood back. His face was white, and his jaw locked as if he were trying hard not to cry.

Rin watched as Haruka exchanged puzzled, whispered words with the shorter blond that had been among the first to embrace him, before straightening up and extracting himself from the tangle of limbs. He stepped forward and placed both his hands on the taller man’s shoulders. It looked a little awkward with the difference in height, but was somehow intimate enough to make Rin feel he was witnessing something private.

He could just make out Haruka repeating in hushed tones “I’m ok. Really, I’m alright,” And he felt his skin flush. 

Had they really believed they would find Haruka in some distress or harm? He thought of what Haruka had told him of how Iwatobi spoke of his father. What terrible things they must have thought, believed of him, and he fought to keep his shoulders straight and not to curl in with the shame of it.

“Aw don’t be sad Makoto. Haru is fine, aren’t you Haru? We said he would be.” The blonde interrupted, bounding over to tackle the pair around the waist. 

Rin watched Haruka squirm under the embraces of his friends, unable to keep a smile from his face. How, despite his grumbling complaints, he returned their affection readily.

Despite himself Rin felt a small cold, stone of jealousy settle in his stomach. 

Haruka had never looked on him the way he looked at his friends.

“Haru, Haru now that the fancy part is over - did we do ok? - introduce us properly.” 

The blonde interrupted Rins thoughts, pulling Haruka over back towards him and nudging him back towards Rin. Haruka blinked up at him as though having forgotten he was there. 

“Please forgive our rudeness your majesty.” The brunette - Makoto it seemed - stepped forward and gave another flourishing Iwatobi-bow, but still looked at him a little uneasily. “We missed Haru - that is to say Prince Nanase - a great deal and have overlooked proper protocol. Thank you for allowing us to visit. I am Tachibana Makoto.”

“And I’m Hazuki Nagisa. A friend of Haru’s. We met in the town in Ikuya’s bar, didn’t we Ikuya. And that is Rei. He works in the palace as a guard. We are honoured to meet you your majesty”

Rin looked from face to face then cocked his head to the side, and turned to Haruka something suddenly clicking. He tested the pronunciation out on his tongue. “Ha-ru. Haruka? Why do they call you this way?”

The chirpy blonde looked up and smiled. “Haru? We all call him this way back home your highness. He hates to be called Haruka.” 

Rin flushed hot and felt his stomach drop. _He didn’t even know how Haruka liked to be called._

“Ah I see. Haruk… Haru, you did not tell me this?” 

Haruka - or Haru he supposed - flushed a little and looked away. 

“It is not important”

 _It’s important to me._ Rin wanted to argue, but refrained from fear of looking even more foolish. 

“Right, well come. Let us retire to my study. Your journey has been long - we have food and wine and beds for you to rest.” 

As they gathered to leave the hall, Makoto lightly touched Rin’s cloak. 

“Your majesty. Forgive me. There is one more thing I must present to you. My lord, King Nanase bids me deliver this letter. He asks that when we leave you give him reply.” 

Rin took the folded and sealed parchment and looked briefly to where Haru was distracted in conversation with Nagisa. He had been expecting this. Waiting for it. Haru had been with them for over two seasons and there had been no word from Iwatobi. No clue as to what the greater machinations of their insistence of this marriage might be. He suspected that time was over and he was about to find out. 

He nodded absently, still turning the parchment over in his hands. 

“I thank you Makoto for this service. I will give you my reply in due time.” 

* * *

“A dancer, a merchant and two glorified guards! This is what Iwatobi deems fit to send us!” Councillor Trajan was almost purple in the face and had hit rather a stride of oratory at the meeting of the high council. 

“Am I to understand councillor your objection is no longer that Iwatobi send us spies, but is rather about the quality of the spies they send?” Sousuke enquired politely, but not bothering to hide the amused smile playing over his lips. 

“Enough about spies!” Rin cut councillor Trajan off with a raise of his palm before he could begin his next diatribe. “These are the Prince Nanase’s friends. Their stations or vocations matter not. This is a personal visit not a state affair. I take no offense and so nor should you.”

“But what your highness fails to consider…”

“This talk of spying must end,” Rin glared and would not be interrupted. Trajan may have power, but he was still approaching dangerous ground of late, his opposition to Rin in these final months before his ascension starting to look less like love for his country and more like plot. “Iwatobi has entrusted us with the life of their son, and now four of their citizens. Gone are the days when we could consider ourselves so entirely estranged considering we are now joined as one family.”

“In ink perhaps.” Trajan muttered under his breath, loud enough for those around him to hear but not so loud that Rin could respond without causing a bigger scene. He settled for glaring sharply at the older man, who inclined his head in a performance of grace. 

“As his majesty wishes. The feasting will go ahead and these Iwatobi… visitors, will be afforded every act of xenia deemed proper. But as for this.” 

He brandished the parchment. They had all read the words multiple times by now, and the contents did not improve on repeat reading. 

“This you must concede is an insult. _Right of crossing. Rights to own land. Rights to trade. A review of borders_.” He listed the demands of King Nanase, spitting with rage at each one. “This is an invasion by any other name. We must turn our minds from pleasantries and think on preparations for the inevitable war to come.” 

“This is not grounds for talk of war.” Rin replied, firmly and calmly. “This is the opening to a negotiation. While perhaps more than we anticipated, it is not entirely unexpected. We have been waiting for them to show their hand. They sent us Haru to gain influence over us. We are not blind to this. That does not mean we will allow it.” 

“Haru, now is it your highness?” Trajan’s eyes narrowed. “One might be at risk of believing they already hold influence. And that they have already made at least one open act of war, even if you do not consider this letter to be the second.” 

He looked pointedly to Rin's wound, covered though it was. Rin grit his teeth, but kept his features schooled. He could not allow them to see how much Trajan was getting to him. He was trying to undermine him, and he would not let him succeed, though the frustration that his injury was being used to manipulate circumstances made his blood boil. 

“I will not accept Iwatobi’s terms. But there are opportunities for a mutually beneficial arrangement here. Have we not been concerned with our increasing surplus of precious metals while our harvests remain consistent? Our population grows and prospers but the limits of our climate have not changed. And are we not in need of trade beyond what our closest neighbours can afford to take from us? Iwatobi may be old enemies, but they have the means to buy what we have no use for and provide us with the additional varieties of crops and cattle we need. Why should we not sell to them as good as any other?”

“So you will allow these snakes free trade in our land?”

Rin held up a palm. “Not free. It is for the people in this room to develop a counter offer. So I ask that we do not take this letter as an insult but an opportunity. Let us show them we are not simple farm folk who do not know the power of negotiation.” 

It was the right thing to say. He watched as the energy of the room moved from rage to scheming. He risked a glance at Sousuke who nodded subtly. 

Rin allowed himself one fleeting moment to wonder what Haru was up to at that moment, and then set himself to the task at hand. It was going to be a long night. 

* * *

Although each of Haru’s friends had been given their own generous rooms in the heart of the palace, that night they all piled into his set of chambers, pulling extra cushions and blankets onto the great bed. 

Haru felt almost dizzy with the happiness of it. His friends were really there. 

Makoto, while stiff and reserved at first, had seemed to relax when he saw Haru truly was unharmed, and that he was kept in surrounding that - while not as ornate as Iwatobi - offered him every comfort. Together they passed many joyous hours that first night talking and laughing and swapping news, Nagisa growing almost breathless with excitement as he caught Haru up on all the gossip from the town and taverns while Rei tried to steer the conversation too weightier topics. 

The news of his marriage had apparently gone down with similar upset among the people of Iwatobi as it had the people of Samezuka, although his father was predictably calling it a victory. Already making plans for the future influence that Haru might hold over his enemies throne. This made Haru uncomfortable, which Makoto was quick to spot, turning the conversation to the new fishing boats that were being built, and the prosperous season they had been having. 

“You should see the size of the mackerel this season Haru. I swear some as big as this!” Makoto held his arms wide and they all set to arguing over the truth of it. For the most part, Haru was content to sit back and allow the chatter to wash over him, his heart feeling so very full. 

They talked together long into the night until, when the others had fallen asleep, Haru and Makoto with wordless agreement crept out to the balcony. They looked out over the dark of the gardens for a few beats before Makoto turned to him, clearly waiting for permission to start to speak. 

Haru tensed, feeling the familiar tender frustration that his oldest friend still retained some measures of deference towards him.

“Makoto you’re staring.”

“It’s good to see you. It’s been too long.”

Haru nodded in agreement, but then fixed his friend with a gaze. “It’s true, but it’s not everything. There are things you want to ask me?”

Makoto sighed out and looked into the night air.

“I don’t even know where to start. It’s been two seasons Haru and not a word. Not a single letter. We were all so worried. And then out of the blue you write asking us to visit. You know I had to beg my father to allow me to come. Half of them believed it was a trap or a …. A plot of some kind. And we all missed you Haru. So much. Nagisa hides it well but he has been distraught, and Ikuya… he pretends he wants to start traveling like his brother but we all know it’s a cover for his plotting to seek you out. And Rei… Rei got reassigned to your brothers which you can imagine how that has been… we _missed_ you Haru. And it would have been nice to be able to share these things with you. It’s not the same with you gone.” 

Haru bit his lip and felt the guilt hit him. It was true he hadn’t written. But he hadn’t seen the point. He had thought them separated forever, he hadn’t wanted to extend the pain. It hadn’t occurred to him that visits might be allowed - both by his father and by Rin. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say.” 

“Oh I don’t know Haru. A simple ‘I’m ok, the only son and heir of our oldest enemies hasn’t put my head on a spike just yet.” Makoto joked feebly, but his words still stung Haru a little. 

“He isn’t like that.” He shot back, a little too harshly, then softened as he saw Makoto flinch. “But I’m sorry I worried you. I missed you all too. Having to leave…” he trailed off, but he knew Makoto would understand all the things he couldn’t say. 

“I know Haru.” 

The silence fell between them again, but this time less heavy than before. Makoto gazed at him askance. 

“Haru. What is he like? Really? They way they speak of him at home. I did not think he would be so…. He’s almost our age. And today he seemed… almost _kind_.” 

Makoto stressed the word as if it were such an impossible thing to comprehend, and Haru felt the now-all-too-familiar pulse of protectiveness. He frowned into the dark as he grappled with how to answer that question. How on earth to explain Rin. 

He thought about the the way Rin’s voice got a little too high when he was nervous or excited. The way he would try extra hard to hide it when in council, but that Haru always knew. The way he knew every servant and guard by name, what their roles were and who their families were. The way when free of the palace Rin would sit back and tip his face up to the sun, smiling and guileless, just happy to be outdoors and to be free - a feeling Haru could relate to all too well. 

“He’s not like they said he was.” He spoke finally, knowing the words fell all too short of all he felt. 

Makoto looked surprised. “You are _fond_ of him?” 

“I didn’t say that.” Haru snapped back, feeling immediately awkward and defensive in a way that was not common between himself and Makoto. 

Makoto stayed staring, Haru feeling increasingly hot under his scrutiny before finally Makoto dropped his gaze to his hands sighing. “Forgive me, I did not mean any insult in it. I am just surprised. I had not expected…” he interrupted himself. “But it’s good if there could be some… happiness found in this. You should be happy here if you can.”

“I can’t.” Haru snapped again stubbornly. “I was sent away remember. This is exile. Not a tour.” 

“I know. I failed you.”

“What?” Haru felt his annoyance melt away. Makoto was looking crushed, his shoulders drooping in misery. 

“I’m supposed to protect you. All my life I tried and then when it mattered ... I could not stop this.” 

“Makoto…” Haru turned and gripped his friends arm so tightly he was sure it must hurt a little. But he desperately needed him to understand. “This is not your responsibility. What could you have done against my father? He is King.”

“I should have tried harder. Should have made him send me too at the least.”

“You know he never would have allowed it. Leaving you and Rei… it was part of the punishment. He would not have let you ease this for me. And what of Ren and Ran? They need you. You had to stay.” 

“I thought he was hurting you. All this time I thought of you alone here and what he must have been doing and…” 

Makoto’s voice started to break and Haru knew they were not talking of his father anymore. He flushed as he felt a hot pulse of injustice.

“I told you that is not his nature. It’s all rumor and myth to make us hate them. He has not hurt me.”

“I know. I see that now.” Makoto smiled softly. “He seems fond of you too. You can tell in the way he looks at you.”

“But he didn’t want this match either. He was protecting his sister. He would not see her sent away to us. To the son of his _oldest enemies_.” 

Haru echoed Makoto words and felt the bitter taste they left. It was a strange, new feeling to understand that as much as he had been taught to distrust and dislike Samezuka, Rin must have grown up with the same learnings and judgements about Iwatobi. 

“That may be so, but we both know you don’t believe him indifferent. You must see that he feels … more for you. He does not try to hide it.”

Haru thought of Rin’s confession - _someone I love_ \- and stared hard at the floor. “He’s a romantic. I could have been anyone and he would have… tried.” 

Makoto hummed thoughtfully. “Perhaps. But I’m not so sure. The fates work in mysterious ways.”

“This is not the will of the fates. It is my fathers doing.” 

“I know Haru. But… that doesn’t mean you are obliged to be miserable.”

Haru grumbled his protest but stayed mostly silent. He ran his finger mindlessly over his ring. A habit that now seemed as familiar as if he’d done it since childhood. 

“I’m glad you came Makoto. I don’t know how I will bear it when you have to leave again.”

Makoto gave a soft, sad smile, then reached to ruffle his hair. “I know. I will not bear to leave you. But let us not think on that now. Let’s make the most of it while we are here.”

* * *

Seeing Samezuka through the eyes of his friends had a strange effect on Haru. It reminded him of when he had first arrived and everything was strange to him. Of how different he found the fashions and the foods and the climate and even small things like the layout of the palace. 

But it also caused him to realise he did not feel the same about so many of those things as he once had. He actually preferred the Samezuka fashions - looser fabrics, less fussy and allowing more of his skin to be kissed by the sun. Back in his Iwatobi outfits he felt stiff and confined, and strangely less of himself. He also found he enjoyed the warmth, the long sunny days, the first touches of the morning heat on his face, the chance to spend afternoons lying in a cool patch of shade and watching the work of the palace around him. He even found himself less put off by the food (though he did not mention this, remarking only how much he missed fish).

His friends were wide eyed and curious about it all. Rei even spent the first day walking around with a roll of parchment to record his observations, until Haru had to warn him about the accusations of spying (he suspected that Rei still kept a note of all he saw, only that he had the sense to continue with this practice in private.)

Haru found he rather enjoyed being able to answer their questions about life in the palace, and surprised even himself by how much he had picked up about the politics and ways of the land during his time at Rin’s side. 

True, that the court stared at them shamelessly whenever they walked as a group, and made no attempts to hide the way they would change direction or double back to avoid bumping into the group from Iwatobi. And the guards watched them everywhere they went, but Haru struggled to find it within himself to care. He was with his friends, the people he loved best, and they were together again. 

If he allowed himself the freedom to daydream, he found himself wishing that all of them could stay indefinitely. 

This thought shocked him the first time he registered it. Because for the first time he was dreaming of a life that included staying in Samezuka, rather than returning home. This was not what he had expected. He had expected that having his friends there would clear the confusion, but in many ways he felt more conflicted than before. He could not stop thinking of Rin. What Rin thought of them. What they thought of Rin. 

And Rin himself was behaving strangely. Every time he said his name it was as if it held a new weight, a reminder of a time when Haru hadn’t thought to care to tell Rin his preference because he had determined to have as little to do with him as possible. He didn’t know how to explain to Rin that his feelings had changed, and that he had also come to learn being called Haruka was not so bad when it was Rin doing the calling. 

He worried about Rin too. Worried that he was pushing himself too hard too fast after his injury. He noticed that something Rin would reach up to massage his wounded shoulder when he thought nobody was looking. But Haru was looking more often than he realised. 

For Rin’s part, he felt the strange sensation of feeling like a guest in his own palace. 

He did his best to clear time in his schedule to get to know the contingent from Iwatobi, but while Nagisa and Rei seemed to warm to him easily enough - happy to swap stories and explain customs for their respective lands - Ikuya barely spoke to him at all, only fixing him with barely concealed distrust. Makoto, the tallest and clearly the leader of their little troupe was unfailingly polite, but it was with a formality and reserve that kept him at a distance. 

It also rapidly became clear to Rin that it was Makoto that knew Haru best of all, his instinctive understanding of what Haru was trying to say, or might be feeling, only serving to remind Rin how little he knew in comparison.

And the time he had available was always short, too short. More often than not he was left to watch as they made plans to visit into the town, or walk the gardens or visit the baths while he was required to continue with his daily duties. Sometimes he flattered himself that Haru would turn to watch him when he and his friends departed, but he could not be sure of this - and surely it was more damning that Haru never asked him to stay? Then there was the fact that when they came back together at the evening dinners Rin could see with painful clarity just how much Haru longed to be at the table for guests with his friends rather than sat at Rin’s side. 

It stung, even as he tried not to let it. 

It did not help that his days were filled with talk of how they would respond to the demands of Iwatobi’s King. He found himself watching Haru sometimes and wondering if he knew. Wondering if his father had spoken to him of his intentions with this marriage. _It is my punishment._ Haru had said. But did that mean he was really insensible to all that his father wanted to take from his Kingdom? All he was trying to take from Rin? 

It was an unpleasant thought, and it stole sleep from him. 

* * *

And so the visit progressed. It was not perfect, nor was it easy, but after the first weeks passed without disaster all parties involved - even the wider court - had just about settled into the idea that no great misfortune was to immediately fall on their heads from mixing between the two lands. 

Which is of course when all began to fall apart. 

It started one otherwise unremarkable afternoon. Haru and Nagisa were talking a walk in the gardens, leaving Makoto, Rei and Ikuya to the shade of the canopies as while they could not so well cope with heat, Nagisa could not cope so well with sitting still. 

They walked a few loops, Haru pointing out all his favourite features of the royal gardens - the little hidden fountains tucked into alcoves. The plants and flowers that still bloomed even in the heat. The desert birds that flew by. 

Nagisa watched it all, but eventually pulled Haru by the wrist to sit at one of the alcoves. 

“Haru, thank you for showing me all this. But while we are alone I must ask you - is something upsetting you? Something on your mind? Since we have been here you have been… distracted. Is there some trouble we can help with?” 

Haru looked up surprised. But he shouldn’t have been. Nagisa was one of his oldest friends. They’d met back when Haru had very first taken to the habit of sneaking away from the palace as a young boy and had been fast friends ever since. He knew how to read his mind and moods almost as well as Makoto. 

“I ...“ he trailed off. He still wasn’t quite able to say it, but his mind was filled with thoughts of Rin. 

“Haru, you can tell me. You know I won’t judge… you are my oldest friend. I love you … so tell me. What’s happening? Are you really ok here?”

Haru’s throat went dry and itchy, but he forced the words out. 

“I thought I knew what my life here would be like. I had prepared myself. All those weeks in Iwatobi. All through the journey. I thought I knew what this place was. What he would be like. And I thought I was ready ...I thought I could block it out. Keep myself… separate to it all. And then I came here. And I met him and …” Haru trailed off. 

Nagisa’s eyes widened, but he didn’t speak right away. 

“He told me he loves me. At least I think he did.” Haru finally admitted. 

He looked for any sign of judgement in his friends face, but found only soft compassion. 

“And what do you feel for him?” Nagisa asked gently. 

Haru shook his head. “I can’t. If I let myself feel that way… let myself begin to feel that there could be some future here, with him… then it means I’m really never coming home.” 

Nagisa’s eyes started to swim. 

“Oh Haru. You know I’d break you out of here if you asked me too. I have at least ten different ideas and Rei only knows about three so even he couldn’t stop me.” 

Haru smiled. “I know you would.”

“But you won’t ask will you?” 

Haru looked at his hands. “My father would not allow me to abandon this marriage. And the prince…Rin. He deserves better than that. I cannot simply creep away in the dark.”

“But what about you? What _you_ deserve … what _you_ want. If the gods granted you powers to fix this, to make it so that nobody would be angry and nobody would be hurt, would you spirit away from here? End this marriage?” 

Nagisa was looking at him intently, something in his eyes telling Haru he already knew his answer. Haru felt his heart contract painfully. And he finally gave words to the feeling he had been battling so much against. 

“I… no.” He replied softly. “I don’t think I would anymore. I wish so much could have been different, but I find I am glad I met him. He’s… good. And kind. And clever. Perhaps if we had been granted more time to know each other. Or had met under other circumstances….” He trailed off and then felt himself blush. “I fear in this life too much is already between us. Our histories. The treaty. He’s my husband and yet we don’t…act as that. There is a wall between us. And it’s my fault. I was so angry. I blamed him for things he could not control and did not give him a fair chance. He has been patient with me but… I don’t know how to make sense of my feelings now. To show him how they have changed.” 

Nagisa beamed and took Haru’s face in his hands. 

“Haru, I miss you and wish you did not have to be so far from home, but… this is exciting is it not? You know your father would have seen you into an arranged match one way or another. At least it seems here you have a chance at love… if not love already?” 

Nagisa was angling but Haru couldn’t quite put his feelings into words yet. Instead he scrubbed a hand over his face. 

“What do I do? I don’t know what it is to be… to fall in love.” 

Nagisa grinned mischievously, and too late Haru realised he was up to some foolishness. 

“That’s easy. Next time the two of you are alone you simply do THIS.” Nagisa launched himself into Haru’s arms, playing at kissing him in an exaggerated act of romance, purposefully planting wet, sloppy kisses on every inch of Haru’s face and neck he could reach all the while tickling him shamelessly in a way he knew would make him laugh.

They tumbled in a heap and Haru could not hold out, laughing as they rolled together. 

And Haru was grateful for it, felt silly and happy and free, if only for a few moments.

For it was a game only. 

But then Nagisa froze mid-act. Haru had rolled them so that he had him pinned to the ground, and when he looked over his shoulder and followed Nagisa’a gaze he found Sousuke and two of the elder council members stood watching them. Sousuke looked pale with shock, while the other two men sneered with clear disdain. 

Haru felt himself redden in the face. 

It was nothing, they had done nothing wrong. 

Nagisa pulled away and Haru saw how he flushed also. Immediately aware of what it looked like. How they must have appeared. 

Slowly, Haru untangled himself and pulled at the folds of his clothes. He opened his mouth to speak but they turned from him, already walking on. 

“Haru… Haru who was that? Were they looking for you? They looked angry?” Nagisa spoke in a small, quiet voice. 

“It’s nothing Nagisa. It’s fine.” Haru bit out, wishing he could believe it, but his heart was beating fast, a strange wave of sickness sweeping over him. 

He needed to talk to Rin. 

* * *

Rin was sat alone in his study mulling over the past days. Seeing Haru with his friends had been both a wound and a balm to him. He was glad - grateful really - that it seemed that finally something that he had done had pleased his husband. But it also hurt some deep, private place in him to realise that, though he had started to flatter himself that Haru was growing to be happy with him and with his life in Samezuka, he had been wrong about that and so many things. 

Watching Haru with his friends, Rin finally learned what true happiness looked like on him, and realised what a pale imitation of the thing it was that he had been privy to before. 

It broke his heart. 

He tried to reassure himself - that Haru had known his friends years, and that things were still new and growing between them. That he could do something about this - see to it that Haru saw his friends more. Perhaps work harder and building the relationship between their countries. But the truth was he felt himself falling to a despair. 

He thought of how wide and shocked Haru’s eyes had blown in the infirmary when he had spoken his heart. 

_I couldn’t lose someone I loved again_

He wanted to believe there was a chance he was not alone in his feelings. But as the days between that heavy confession and this - each one without reply - stacked up, Rin felt the little hope he had left start to fade. 

He tried to rally his spirits and turn himself back to his papers, but was quickly interrupted by a knock at his door, and his guards announcing Sousuke. 

His old friend looked stiff and pained, Rin rose to his feet immediately to greet him, but Sousuke cut off his words with a hand. 

“Rin I must speak with you. Now. Will we be disturbed here?”

Rin shook his head and felt his heart start to speed. “No, what is it? Something is troubling you? Come, have a cup of wine and tell me everything.” 

Sousuke ignored Rin’s offer of the jug at his desk and instead walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“I wish this were the duty of another, but I could not live with myself if you heard this from less friendly mouths. Rin, the Prince Nanase was seen in a compromising position with one of the Iwatobians. Trajan saw. The news will spread fast, we must think of some recourse.” 

Rin was stunned into silence. The words separately all had meaning enough, but together he could not seem to take in what Sousuke was telling him.

“Rin…. Rin say something?” 

“I… I don’t believe you.”

“Rin, Rin please sit back down.” Sousuke helped him back to his chair. Rin noticed dully his hands were shaking a little. He was embarrassed, and faintly grateful only Sousuke was privy to seeing him this way.

“Rin I am sorry. I would not speak of this if I did not believe… if I did not know it to be true. I do not wish to cause you pain but…”

“Stop. Stop it. This is more lies. They still believe he tried to hurt me, and when they could not tar him with my attack they are choosing this. It is not true.” 

Sousuke knelt down so they were eye to eye and gripped Rin’s shoulder hard enough to leave marks. 

“Rin. Listen to me. He was fraternising with the dancer in your gardens with no care for who might see. And there were witnesses. Half the court will know by dinner. Half the country will know before the week is out. You must protect yourself against this dishonour. I know you don’t wish to hear it but this… this cannot stand. It makes you look weak when you most need to look strong. We have your ascension to think of. This plays right into Trajan’s hands.”

“You’re wrong. You are mistaken about this. You must be.” Rin repeated faintly, though the feeling had started to return to his limbs and with it, pain. Bright sharp pain that told him what his mind did not want to accept. 

“Things are better between us. He saved me. He sits at my side. He would not…” His protests sounded weak to his own ears. Sousuke cut them off. 

“Rin, stop. Listen to yourself? Stop defending him. You think that the whole court doesn’t know he won’t share your bed? That they don’t see how you look at him and yet how cold he is. How he takes no interest in his life here. They overlook it because they love you but this… this cannot stand. You are to be their King. Allies and enemies alike will not sit idle seeing you treated this way, which is dangerous for both him and you. You must put a stop to it.”

“Sousuke…” Rin’s tone turned warning. He needed a moment to sit, a moment to think. But Sousuke pressed on. 

“Do you think this brings me any pleasure Rin? To have to tell you these things? To see you hurt? But I promised I would always be honest with you, to serve you faithfully no matter what so what choice am I left with? Better you hear it from me now than councillor Trajan and his supporters in the court. I wish I could tell you differently but I was there, I saw it with my own eyes.”

Sousuke’s voice had become high and tight and more filled with emotion that Rin had not seen for as long as he could remember. And it was that, more than the words that knocked the fight from him. He crumpled forward, forehead resting on Sousuke’s shoulder, fists loosening to hang limp at his side. 

"Forgive me. Sou, forgive me. This isn’t … I know this is not your fault.”

Sousuke pulled him into a rough hug. “I’m sorry. You must know how sorry I am. I know you love him and I know you deserve infinitely more than this in return. But you cannot allow this marriage to destroy you. Not your heart, not your reputation, not your future as King.” 

“I’m a fool.” Rin whispered softly into Sousuke’s shoulder. “I was being foolish. Do you know I confessed to him? After the accident I told him how I felt about him and he… he gave me no reply. Right from the start he made it clear that he… and I… I have been fooling myself.”

He took a shuddering breath, and Sousuke felt with painfully acuity the effort it took for him to pull back from the grief that threatened. When he spoke again, his voice was steadier, more sure. More of a King. 

“But no more. I will do what must be done.”

Still, they stayed arm in arm for a long while. Not Prince and advisor, but simply two friends facing a heartbreak together. 

Eventually Rin asked to be left alone so that he could think over how he might confront this. The pain was bright and fresh. The humiliation raw. But he knew what he must do - put feelings and emotions aside and act as a King. 

He stayed hunched alone in his study for a long time. He thought of what Haru had told him - that he had been sent away for punishment. Perhaps this was the cause. That Haru had fallen in love with a dancer, so far below his station. It would make sense that his father would then seek a more profitable arrangement. 

Rin had been so wrapped up in the idea of a love story, that perhaps Haru was his own true love, that it hadn’t occurred to him that Haru might already have been in a love story of his own. 

The shadows grew long across the floor, and finally Aii entered to summon him to dinner. 

Rin smoothed his hair, squared his shoulders, and prepared to face the matter head on. 

* * *

Haru had spent the afternoon twisted up with anticipation for dinner. When he had tried to visit Rin he had been barred entry and told that the Prince was in an important meeting and needed privacy. 

He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, or if he was already become the subject of more stares and whispers that usual, and so in the end he trailed back to his chambers to wait with Rei, Makoto, Nagisa and Ikuya. 

They all tried to make light of the situation with him, to reassure them that if Rin was shut away it was unlikely he had been told anything, and even if he had it would be quick to resolve. 

Their faces betrayed their tension though. Nagisa particularly was out of sorts. He was due to dance as the nights entertainment - a sort of cultural exchange that had been proposed days prior - but he didn’t seem in the right mind frame for it, continually missing the steps and tripping where he had never tripped before, until Rei had to take him out to the balcony to be calmed. 

When finally a servant came to fetch them, they walked in silence to the great hall. As was custom Haru would be seated at the top table with Rin, while the Iwatobi troup took their designated and now familiar places at the second most prestigious table, as honoured guests. 

As Haru took his seat next to Rin, he realised with a sinking stomach right away that he was too late. Someone had spoken to Rin first. 

He would not look at Haru. He did not speak to him. He stayed stiff and silent, their roles dramatically reversed from the first ever dinner they shared together. 

In full view of the eyes of the court there was little Haru could do to explain himself, though he tried on several occasions to engage him only to see his efforts rebuffed. Rin either stayed silent or shifted his body subtly away to address the council member at his other side.

The atmosphere among the court too was skittish and electric. Haru felt the weight of their stares on him, and on his friends who sat huddled together at the top of one of the long tables set before them. 

Haru chewed his lip and fiddled with his ring, unable to eat or drink and trying to calm his racing heart and mind. 

_Tonight. I will speak with him tonight. We will clear this up._ He tried to reassure himself.

He didn’t feel very reassured. 

He was so distracted he was taken rather by surprise when the drums started up. He had not been paying attention to the progression of the meal, and failed to see the musicians take their places for Nagisa’s dance. 

Aii stood, pink faced and blushing at the attention as he announced Nagisa as a talented dancer from the court of Iwatobi. It was a stretch of the truth - Nagisa was found performing in the city taverns more than at court - but one clearly deemed necessary to lend gravitas to the performance. 

A wave of sound - whispers not fully repressed - shuddered around the room, and Nagisa stood in the centre, blush high on his cheeks and face lowered. Haru gripped the armrests of his chair too tightly. It was as if entering some terrible nightmare. He wished he could will everything to a stop, but the music started up, and Nagisa started to dance. 

He was beautiful. He always was. And despite the tumbles and clumsy missteps of his rehearsals Nagisa didn’t put a foot wrong. He shimmied his hips, and circled his arms in a hypnotic wave of motion. His golden hair gleamed as he tossed his head and contorted his body to the beat of the music. 

It was captivating, one of Nagisa’s very best. 

But as Nagisa danced, Haru noticed something. The court was not only watching him, they were watching Haru too. Pointing and whispering. He felt his face burn and pointedly stared at Nagisa’s intricate steps. 

It felt like the song went on forever, but finally after twirling and twirling and twirling so fast he became a blur - the beat of the drum speeding up to will him on and on and on - Nagisa finally fell to his knees in rest, arms extended to the sky, chest heaving and face sheened in sweat, the music ended. 

As Nagisa stayed kneeling and panting, there was a beat of heavy silence across the room. Then, instead of applause, a fresh wave of whispers crashed about the room all at once. 

_The prince and the dancer. Shameless. Whore. Traitor._

Nagisa stood and curled into himself, flushed and humiliated. And Haru couldn’t bear it. He jumped to his feet, chair scraping loudly behind him and started up a wild, loud clap. Defiant and angry and knowing he was only making things worse but unable to leave his friend to face the angry whispers alone. 

The room stared at him, unflinching and merciless in their judgement. Haru turned and looked down at Rin pleadingly, there was a flash of something in his gaze - there and then gone - and then after a moment that lasted far too long, Rin rose to stand at his side and started to clap stiffly too. 

It was enough. A mercy that Haru didn’t expect, as the court was quick and obedient to join in, the whispers drowned out in their applause. But Nagisa’s head stayed lowered in shame and instead of soaking it in like he would normally, at the first opportunity he retreated back to Makoto and Rei, Rei placing a comforting arm about him. Ikuya sat glaring all about them, looking ready to fight, and Haru felt a hopeless anger surge in him. His friends didn’t deserve this. It was him the court were angry at. 

When the clapping died down, Rin turned to where Nagisa and the other were sat and inclined his head in a mark of respect. But his words were clipped and unnatural. 

“Thank you Iwatobi. You do us honour by sharing your gifts so freely among my court.” The whispers threatened to start up again, but the hint of a glare from Rin shut them up. Haru had rarely seen him pushed to act in such a way, but now Rin was at his most regal, his most commanding, reminding the room just who he was and the respect owed to him. 

Haru felt a flush of gratitude towards him. But his next words sent his heart racing. 

“We will miss you when you leave us in the coming days. But we will send you with gifts and horses and wine in honour of your King.” 

This time, Rin allowed the speaking to break out freely and the room erupted into whispers. 

_Days._

Haru felt his stomach lurch and he looked frantically at where Makoto, Nagisa, Rei and Ikuya looked stunned as well. There had been no mention of their visit being so short. For almost a month of travel, it was expected that they would be welcomed to stay at least double the time. 

They had been in the palace not even three weeks. 

Nagisa looked like he had started to cry, and in a moment of torn anguish Haru looked at Rin, pleading with him silently. _Do not do this. Please. Do not send them away so soon._

Rin looked unflinchingly back, his gaze frighteningly empty. When he spoke again, he addressed the court players, not Haru. 

“Now, we are celebrating are we not. Play on.” 

As the music started back up. Haru stared at Rin horrified, and then with the final, awful realisation that Rin was serious, that he was really about to send them all away, he pushed away from the table and fled the room. 

Rin finally sat back down and stared unflinchingly out at his court.

* * *

After the dinner concluded, in shock Makoto, Nagisa, Rei and Ikuya gathered in Haru’s rooms, trying to reassure one another - but mostly Haru - that all was not lost. That they could fix this. 

“You just need to speak with him. Go to him now!” Makoto urged.

But Haru was frozen into inaction by the lifeless look he had seen in Rin’s eyes. 

The decision was soon taken from him though. With no announcement or warning, the two Mikoshiba brothers burst into the room. 

“All of you out. The Crown Prince wishes to speak with his husband. Alone.” 

Haru stood, watching his friend depart and waiting anxiously for Rin. 

When he finally stepped into the room Rin’s shoulders were high and tight and he would not look at him. He held out a folded piece of parchment, Haru could just make out the Iwatobi royal seal, split where it had been opened. 

“Did you know of this?” Rin demanded. 

Haru frowned. This was not what he was expecting … he looked at the letter again. From his father, it must have been. 

“I… No. What does it say?”

“Swear to me you were not involved in this?”

Haru blinked, confused. Whatever the contents, it can’t have been good. His mind started to race with all the things his father might have been attempting. 

“I swear it.”

Rin tucked the letter into the folds of his clothes then took a deep breath before finally lifting his eyes to meet Haru’s. There was that same, strange blankness in them from before. 

“Haruk-…Haru. It is painful for me to have to say these things to you, but it is my duty so I must. It is no secret in my court that you hold little care for me. I have known this, and yet I have tried to be a good husband to you. I have not asked love of you, but I must demand to be treated with some respect in my own house. You will exercise discretion.”

Haru felt his chest tighten and his blood raise with the hurt of it. _You believe them. I expected this of them, but not you. Not you too._

“What are you accusing me of?” he demanded. 

“Nothing that has not been verified by eyes I trust as much as my own. You were seen. Flaunting your disregard for me with the dancer from Iwatobi. I will not ask you cease contact - If he brings you any happiness at all it would be of some comfort to me, but unless you begin to conduct yourself with more regard for my reputation I will not allow him in my kingdom again. Do we understand each other?”

Haru stared wide eyed, lips slightly parted as he struggled with the warring emotions inside him. Half of him wanted to protest his innocence. The other half was incensed that Rin could be so quick to discard him. So quick to write of what had grown between them. So quick to send away his dearest friends. 

Rin’s eyes drifted for a moment to the bed. What should have been their marriage bed, and his expression hardened from hurt to anger.

“In any matter,” He continued, the words coming out almost as a sneer, “I would have considered my bed better fit for your purpose with him than my gardens. This night you may stay where you are, but tomorrow you will pack up your things and you will be relocated to new chambers. These are my rooms, in my home, and you have held them long enough. Good night” 

And then he turned and was gone. 

It felt like a fresh banishment. Haru looked about the room, his things which months ago had stayed resolutely in his cases now fully absorbed into the space. It had started to feel like his own. 

He bunched the sheets in his fists, mixed with anger and injustice and some other nameless emotion that seemed more connected to the look of grief that had played over Rin’s features. 

“Let them think of me what they will.” He spoke to the silence, but his calm words were belied by the disquiet in his heart. 

* * *

The next days showed just how empty his words had been. Gossip spread through the palace and into the surrounding town at an alarming rate, so that quickly neither Haru nor his friends could leave his room without being on the receiving end of a barrage of whispers and stares. 

The first morning they had solemnly helped him pack up his belongings for the servants to move to new quarters. A fine set of rooms, but set so far across the palace from Rin’s chambers Haru looked on them more as a gilded dungeon. 

None of them were much in the mood for talking, and once Haru’s belongings were packed, they started to see to the arrangements for their own long journey back to Iwatobi. Checking on the horses and speaking with the kitchen to arrange provisions. 

The staff of the house did all that they asked, but it was as though they were all marked by the gossip that followed them wherever they went. The story had rapidly started to shift and twist so that each day they heard some new iteration. Word spreading that the Prince from Iwatobi had been caught with a lover. That the Crown Prince was a cuckold. That they had flaunted it. 

Haru watched as Makoto and the others tried to keep their heads high, to ignore it, but they were not protected by the station he was. They were jostled in the halls. Hissed at under breath. One hard-faced soldier even spat at Nagisa right under Haru’s nose, and Haru, cast out as he was, felt powerless to do anything to stop it. 

And the worst of it was, Rin was nowhere to be seen, staying locked away with his council or with Sousuke. When Haru visited the training ground in the morning trying to catch him, he was not there. He was not in his study, and he did not visit the royal baths. He even ceased insisting that Haru appear at dinner. And despite all his anger and despair, under it all Haru felt with a keen sharpness the loss of his company. 

He took to holing up in his new chambers with his friends. Trying to ignore the world outside and eek out the last of the company of those that loved him. 

* * *

The morning of their departure, Haru rose early. Not woke - for he had not been able to sleep at all - and headed down to the stables to where he knew the horses were being readied and shared a tender and tearful farewell. 

He hugged them each in turn, not bothering to hide his tears. He held Nagisa the tightest, who cried against him and apologised again for his perceived fault. Haru would not accept this and only smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

“We’ll see each other soon.” He promised, hoping desperately that his words were not a lie. 

Just before they mounted to depart, Makoto pulled him aside and held his shoulders, his kind eyes clouded with worry. 

“You could still come with us. Leave this place. We’d find a way. We could make it ok.”

Haru shook his head, then thought again of the letter. Makoto was the only one who worked closely enough to his father to have been entrusted with it. He pulled closer to his friend and whispered so that they might not be overheard by the gathered attendants who were helping to see the group away. 

“The letter you brought for Rin. Do you know of its contents? Of what my father wanted with him?”

Makoto’s eyes widened a little then he shook his head. 

“No. But the only reply that the Prince would permit me to give is that he is taking it under consideration and will send word of his own. It cannot be a good thing, no?” 

Haru felt his guts twist. He forced himself to shake it from his mind, and instead pulled Makoto into a hug. 

“No matter what happens, know that I love you and I will always be thankful for our friendship. Will you promise me to remember this?”

Makoto’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “Do not speak to me like that. Like we won’t ever see each other again.” 

Haru could not answer this, and so simply gave him a final, brief squeeze of the shoulder before he had to pull himself away. 

Alone, he walked himself up to the highest part of the palace to watch out the window as their horses road away from him, into the dusty horizon. 

He tensed when he heard someone join him, but did not turn around. 

It was the first time he had been alone with Rin in too many days and he felt overwhelmed. Unable to speak through the sadness and anger and hurt. He was trembling slightly all over as they watched the group ride away, and as the image of his friends started to fade and blur into the horizon Haru felt Rin reach out to press his palm slightly against his back.

“Haru. It will be ok. I know I spoke harshly but I meant it when I said I will not ask you to forsake them. You will see them again.” Haru felt himself start to wilt. To weaken. To want to turn around and explain it all. Then he heard Rin take a heavy breath and continue, “You will see _him_ again” 

And something in Haru snapped. He pulled away sharply, whirling on him, eyes bright with unshed tears and filled with rage. 

“What do you know! You speak those words like they mean anything to me. You send them away on a rumour and dare to comfort me? You assume too much, you know nothing about what is between us. And you know nothing about me. Nothing at all about how I feel. And I can’t stand it. I can’t stand the stares. I can’t stand the whispers. I can’t stand your court, your council, your judgement of the people I love. I can’t stand-”

“Me” Rin cut him off bluntly. 

In the shock of silence that followed Haru eyes widened slightly as if surprised by his own outburst. Rin’s lips were parted, his face drained of colour. 

Haru watched in sickening silence the way Rin shattered privately and pieced himself back together as a king must do. 

Slowly his arm dropped back to his side, fingers curling against his palm as if in injury. Rin then gave a short bow and when he spoke his voice was steady, if frighteningly hollow. 

“I will leave you to your rest. Prince Nanase.” 

* * *

That night in the dark and the quiet of his private library, Rin read over the treaty again and again. He thought of Haru’s bright laughter in the company of those he loved. He thought of the rage and grief in his eyes as he watched them leave. 

He re-read the letter from the King of Iwatobi, and then through the treaty again. 

Finally an idea struck him. 

He called for his council to be summoned. 


	6. Vi: Olethros

Haru was sleeping, though restlessly, when the knock came.

At first he dismissed it as only his imagination - since his friends departure he had spent his days locked under a self imposed seclusion, and the nights had been long with little relief of sleep causing his mind to play tricks on him - but it came more and more insistent until he was forced to accept it was real. He sat up and called blearily for the visitor to enter.

Only it was no visitor. It was Rin.

He swept into the room, dressed formally with cloak and diadem in place. A small number of attendants quickly followed carrying lamps and candles, stoking the fires so that the room rapidly glowed, throwing the deep of the sky outside his windows into sharp relief. It had to have been the middle of the night…

Haru blinked stupidly, and more than a little stunned.

Finally, Rin spoke. “Haru, you are called before the council.”

“Council? What… what time is it? Rin?” Haru pulled himself up to sit more fully, the strangeness of the situation making way for a low buzz of alarm. Something was wrong.

And Rin was not looking at him.

“Please forgive me for the late hour. It was not my intention to disturb you with this matter until morning. But I must ask that you join us now. There is not time to delay. My attendants will help you ready.”

Rin’s face was tight and serious, and for some reason that set Haru’s heart racing. He felt he had not seen him properly in weeks, the harsh words that they had last exchanged still rattling through Haru’s mind every time it was dark and he was alone. Weeks where it had hurt to breathe every time he thought of his friends sent away. When he thought of the grief that had passed over Rin’s features at the presumption of Haru’s hatred.Weeks where - on the rarest of occasions that they had sight of one other - each looked thinner, the circles under their eyes darker.

One of Rin’s attendants stepped forward, but Haru shook him off.

“I do not need assistance. I wish to be told what is the meaning of this?”

Rin only gestured for the servants to pull back.

“We will await you outside. I will explain on the way. But you will come now.”

Haru was left in the newly bright room, bristling a little at the order. While it was fully within Rin’s right to give, it had never been that way between them. With quick but fumbling fingers he disposed of his nightshirt and pinned himself quickly into a plain chiton before joining Rin and his retinue in the main chamber.

“Rin, what is the meaning of this?”

Rin raised his brows slightly, before reaching to unclasp the cloak pinned at his shoulders.

“Take this. The night is cool. We are to the council. They will shortly vote on an important matter and they need to hear from you.”

“From me?” Haru was forced to follow as Rin set off out of the rooms and winding back through the palace towards the council chambers. The halls were deep with shadow, flaming brackets causing the light to occasionally jump and flicker. Rin’s hair took on the look of firelight itself, and Haru realised he had never felt less knowable to him than in this moment, 

He felt a pulse of panic, fingers trembling a little as though his body had gotten wind of some threat that his mind could not yet make shape of.

He wondered if he was about to be punished for his perceived discretion with Nagisa, though the delay in time, being pulled from his bed; nothing seemed to add up. Least of all Rin. He had never felt unsafe with Rin, and couldn’t believe he would harm him now. But the lateness of the hour, the gravity of his summons. He stopped a few paces from the door to the council chambers. There was light bleeding out across the floor from under the door and he could hear the murmur of voices beyond.

He reached out for the wall to steady himself.

“Rin stop this. I will not go a step further until you explain. I know you are displeased with me, but you cannot put me before your council without telling me what I am expected to answer to?”

It came out more pleading than prince-like, and Haru bit his cheek to stop his panic from bleeding out between them further.

Rin’s shoulder’s tensed. He turned slowly and finally looked directly at Haru. His gaze was weary. Tired. And strangely glassy.

“You are unhappy here” he said heavily. It wasn’t a question. “And for my part I cannot endure your indifference any longer.”

It was not the answer Haru had been anticipating. He gripped the smooth marble under his hand tighter.

“I-I’m not indifferent to you.”

“But you cannot love me.” Rin replied, calmly but something hollow in his voice. “You long for home and I cannot continue to be the reason you are so unhappy. Our union is to be annulled.”

Haru felt the word as a fist of ice through his chest. And then numbness. A dreadful numbness spreading out from his chest right to the tips of his fingers.

“Annulled?”

“The treaty demanded a marriage between our houses. A marriage occurred. But there was no consummation and so our union is not binding by Samezuka law. That leaves some small room for negotiation. The council is gathered. I have spoken to them and with your testimony they will agree.”

“My testimony.” Haru echoed, feeling his head start to spin.

“It is no secret that your father bid you to marry Gou - to marry _me -_ to gain influence over my kingdom and our trade. I have offered Iwatobi what I can to honour that. But I will not allow my country to be held hostage to a treaty I did not agree to. And I will not be complicit in your misery any longer.”

“Rin… what have you done?”

“I have opened lines of communication with your father.”

“My father?”

Surprise layered on shock, and Haru was struck with a sudden nausea. _Rin had been in contact with his father these past weeks. And he hadn’t known._

“To negotiate the end to your punishment. You will return home. Our union will be annulled. You are to be free.”

Haru knew his father, knew it could never be that simple. Even in his confusion, he felt a sharp, bright pulse of fear for Rin.

“W….what did he demand? What has this cost you?”

Rin’s eyes flickered then, meeting Haru’s for a split second before they pulled away again.

“Nothing it is not in my power to give. Now come. The councils agreement in this matter is fragile. We must see this done now or not at all.”

Haru noted dully that the tremble had spread, his arms and legs no longer feeling capable of holding him up.

_You will return home._

“You do not need to be afraid” Rin reassured him softly, mistaking the source of his anxiety. “They will only ask you a few questions. All you need do is tell the truth. There will be no punishment. Your dowry will be returned to you so all will know you are not at fault. You will return with honour. I will send gold and silver to praise your parents and peace will hold. But you will return.”

“Rin, wait.”

“Haru, it must be now.”

Haru reached out for him blindly, “Rin, _wait!”_

But it was too late, Rin had already signalled to the guards. The doors were flung open, and Haru found himself thrust before the council.

* * *

The council of Samezuka were a mix of those who had come into the position through blood and those who had risen to the station through merit. They fell like most into factions; those who spoke with reverence for the old ways and distrusted anything new, and those who found themselves restless for change. Then there were the more dangerous divides - those loyal to Rin who welcomed his ascension and those who had found themselves benefiting indirectly from the death of his father, and for whom the regency had bestowed power they were not ready to relinquish.

Haru had become accustomed to, if not familiar with, almost all of them in his time in the palace. He had sat in council at Rin’s side often enough to understand where most of them sat across the spectrum, and how their manner of speaking and arguing was.

It was something quite different to come before all of them now. To see them united in rare agreement. Agreement against him.

The large, usually bright space was mostly in shadow, the council gathered at a long high table pushed to one end of the room and lit only by the flicker of firelight - torches set along the edges of the room creating long shadows so that their features appeared distorted, almost monstrous to Haru.

“The Prince has conceded to present to you and verify my testimony.” Rin walked them into the circle of light and spoke short, clipped, his authority over them clear even as he stood in the position of petitioner. “But I would remind you of his station and all the respect that it demands.”

“Very well your highness. If I may begin?”

Rin nodded, and councillor Hereod- one of the eldest and most loyal to Rin - leaned forward, peering at Haru as if seeing him for the first time.

“Prince Haruka, I will keep this brief. Is it true you say that you do not love Prince Matsuoka. That you cannot?”

Haru felt Rin tense, bracing beside him, but he dared not look. He stayed silent for a long time unable to answer the question. That strange feeling was back. The pressure building in his chest, threatening to crush the air from him. He closed his eyes and heard Rin’s voice come soft beside him.

“It is alright Haru. Tell them.”

“I...” Haru started. He raised his head and looked along the council. Weary at being pulled from their beds. Then, looked at Rin fully dressed, straight backed and determined despite the early dawn hour, every inch the shining future king, and it occurred to him that perhaps none of them had been to bed yet at all. That perhaps Rin had been here through the night working to petition on Haru’s behalf. He felt his throat grow thick at the thought. An annulment was unprecedented. All this because he believed him so unhappy. He thought of home. Of the white beaches and blue of the ocean.

“I do not.”

With the words Haru felt the energy drained out of him. He swayed a little on his feet. He finally dared turn and glance at Rin. His face was pale and tight but his expression fixed into its mask of royal composure.

“And you say your union was not consummated?”

“It was not.”

This came easier, although not without a strange flash of heat to his cheeks as he pictured that first night. Rin before him in his finery. His soft touch, and easy blushes.

Councillor Hereod sighed heavily.

“Strange ungrateful boy. A fourth son of little consequence who feels entitled to reject our future king. I do not wish to hear any more. I am satisfied with our own Prince’s testimony. I will consent to have the union annulled on the condition that the peace treaty remains sanct according to the assurances from your king and our prince. I wish you safe passage home and pray that we will enjoy a very long respite there before you darken our halls again.”

He signed the parchment with a flurry, his disgust clear, then pushed away from the table and exited. One by one the council followed suit. Even Trajan was uncharacteristically quiet, only throwing a slight sneer in Haru’s direction as he too signed the agreement. To speak such way of a foreign prince, to leave before their own had dismissed them, Haru felt curled in with shame but Rin bore it stoically, nodding to each member of his council in turn as they signed and left until only councillor Nikan remained.

“Your majesties, now there if only for the two of you to sign. I will act as witness. Please proceed.”

Rin stepped forward. Haru expected to see him waver, to pause, perhaps even to say something to him, but instead he put ink to paper with practiced confidence. It could have been any number of routine correspondences. Haru felt his head swim. He was going to be freed. Allowed to return to his home. Just as he had wanted.

It didn’t feel how he’d expected it to.

There was no rush of relief, of joy. Only the steady pressure on his chest.

Rin stepped back to his side unturning. Haru watched the firelight play over his features in profile.

“Prince.” Councillor Nikan snapped him from his daze and almost as if some other being controlled his body he stepped forward and took the quill.

One signature. A few movements and he’d be cleaved from Rin forever, as if their union had never happened at all.

His hand was shaking slightly and he hovered with the quill above the parchment.

“Prince Haruka.” Nikan prompted, voice weary.

Slowly, Haru scratched out the characters of his name, each motion feeling like a cut. A wound he was inflicting. But on who he could no longer say for sure. 

He stepped away and watched as the parchment was salted, rolled and sealed.

“It is done.” Councillor Nikan bowed.

“Thank you councillor for your duty at this hour. You are dismissed and free to retire now.” Rin spoke calmly and politely.

They were left alone.

“Rin...” Haru tried to speak but the words died in his throat. Rin turned to him, shoulders heavy, the weariness finally seeping in.

“You should retire also your highness. You start a long journey when the sun rises.”

It was a dismissal, not impolite but clear and final.

Haru tried to ignore it.

“Rin, why… why wouldn’t you tell me this is what you were thinking of? What you were planning?”

Rin wouldn’t meet his eyes, as if by averting them he could disguise that they were rimmed in red.

“I did not know if it would work. I did not want to get your hopes up if I couldn’t get them to agree to it. I know how much you have missed home.”

“But Rin….”

Unsteadily Haru tried to reach for him but found his touch rebuffed as Rin flinched away. With that single moment came crashing upon Haru the realisation of all the times Rin had endured his own rejections and still each time summoned the courage to reach out anew.

But no more it seemed.

“Rest your highness. I will see you away safely in the morning.”

And with that, Rin swept away, leaving Haru alone and feeling emptier than he had ever felt before.

\--x--

The journey back to his room was a blur, and when he entered he found his chambers already busy with servants and stewards gathering his belongs. He wondered just how long Rin had been planning this.

He ignored the movement and lay, fully dressed on top of the large bed. He was cold, so cold, but no matter how many of the fine woollen blankets and rich furs he pulled about himself the coldness would not shift.

_I cannot bear your indifference any longer._

His chest hurt. He thought of speaking with Nagisa, of finally having come so close to admitting the feelings he had been denying for longer than he could put a finger on. How all had so quickly fallen apart. He didn’t want Rin to be unhappy, and yet was that not all he had offered him these past months? Perhaps he owed him this much. To absent himself quietly. To do as Rin bid him.

And he could go home. He could be reunited with Makoto. With Rei and Nagisa and Ikuya. He could return to his own rooms. His old life.

Perhaps this was the right thing for all of them.

And yet it hurt. It hurt so so much.

* * *

The dawn seemed to hurtle towards them, and with it Haru was joined by yet more servants and squires. He allowed himself to be pushed and prodded up from the bed and assisted into clothing more suited to a long day of riding. He kept Rin’s cloak clutched to him.

Then Aii arrived and, head bowed, informed him that the royal household had gathered to see him away. Whereas Rin had kept his expression controlled, and Haru was too numb to understand much of what he felt at all, Aii wore his distress at the situation openly. Haru remembered he had been kind to him once - when Rin had been hurt and all the guards seemed to believe him to be the perpetrator - and tried to find the words to thank him.

Instead he found himself saying, “You will look after him, won’t you? See that he comes to no harm.”

Aii blinked back up at him surprised. ‘It is my life’s honour and duty to serve and protect his highness, Prince.” 

It was a small comfort, but it was something.

They walked the long corridors in silence. It was still early enough that much of the household was not yet up, and Haru wondered if that was intentional. To spirit him away in secrecy.

As they approached the courtyard from which they were to depart, Haru spotted Rin from a distance. He was stood alone, Gou and Sousuke a little way off to the side, several of the guards lined up behind them. He recognised the flame-haired brothers, both uncharacteristically grim-faced. Councillors Hereod and Trajan were also gathered with their aids, but it seemed the rest of the council were still resting from the nights long service.

It was far from the pomp and ceremony one would normally expect for a departing Prince, but Haru still felt overexposed by the audience.

He wished desperately that it could have just been he and Rin alone. That they might have one final change to right the wrongs and misunderstandings between them.

As they approached, Rin nodded to Aii who, after a low bow, shuffled back to take his place with the other guards. Haru stayed stood before him and looked shamelessly over him. He was dressed in a fresh chiton of bronze fabric in the longer style. The pin at his shoulder depicted a shield and he had replaced the cloak lent to Haru with an almost identical crimson cape. He was not wearing his circlet, but the strands of his hair that normally hung over his features had been platted back, leaving his face fully exposed. If he was tired, he was hiding it well. Haru took in his smooth brow, the curve of his cheek, his large dark eyes, the slope of his nose, the curve of his lips, pressed tight as they were.

He felt himself cataloguing each of these features, wanting to commit them to memory. _This may be the last I ever see of him_. His mind reminded him.

A flash of hurt made it through the cold, numbness that remained settled over his chest.

Rin gave a short bow in acknowledgement of Haru’s arrival, but when he spoke his voice was projected, the words for all who were gathered, not just for Haru alone.

“Prince Nanase, we are come to wish you well on your journey back to your home of Iwatobi. We trust you will commend us to your father the King, and send you with gold and silver in honour of the dowry your father paid, and with horses that are my personal gift to you and your kin. Sousuke, my best guard will accompany you. He will see you returned safe and he will speak with my authority to your king and council to ensure that the terms we agreed are honoured.”

Haru turned and looked dully at the gathered carts that he guessed were filled with the treasures of which Rin spoke. The horses, whinny and pacing softly in anticipation of the ride did indeed look handsome too, but he knew it must only be a fraction of what his father had extracted.

“What terms?” He asked.

Rin looked momentarily surprised, but smoothed his features, and when he spoke this time his voice was pitched low, only for them.

“Trade mostly. Your father was very insistent on that point. Some exchange of intelligences between our countries. And in return he has guaranteed the sanctity of the boundaries of my land. And also … That you will not be forced to marry another against your will.”

The last item was a shock. “Y-you asked for this? And he agreed?”

Rin pulled a roll of parchment from his robes. “This is a copy of the provisional new treaty. There are a few matters still to be finalised in the coming months, but yes. He has agreed.”

Haru was still formulating a response to that when Sousuke approached, eyes steely.

“Your majesty. It is time. We start to burn daylight.”

Without further word he embraced Rin to him. A brief but raw clasp before he turned to Haru.

“Prince Nanase if you have any final words for his highness now if the time. We would see you away.”

His tone was not kind, but Haru ignored it in favour of turning back to Rin whose eyes had gone very dark and glassy. His expression a study in effortful composure. He opened his mouth, _Rin, do not do this. Do not cast me off,_ so many entreaties sprang to mind. All off them useless.

Rin spoke again instead. “Prince Nanase, I know you may struggle to believe me, but try when I say I hold you no ill will. If ought, I found you too easy to love. I am sure you will find your happiness. I want that for you. And so I truly wish for peace between us, and peace between our lands. Perhaps we can achieve something our ancestors did not in this way.”

His tone was soft but there was a finality to it, and at a loss for anything else to say, anything else to do, Haru slid the large rough cut ruby from his finger and held it out to Rin.

Rin blinked and looked surprised, then reached out and held it in his hand examining it with sad eyes.

“Of course. The last remembrance of me. Of this.” He whispered. His eyes lifted, meeting Haru’s, and all at once the carefully cultivated distance between them shattered. He looked young, and vulnerable and torn open.

“If I asked you to keep it, would you?”

Haru’s eyes widened in shock. It was Rin’s father’s ring. He was utterly undeserving.

“I can’t...” he breathed out.

But before he had chance to explain Rin’s face shuttered once more.

“Of course. Foolish of me.” He pulled his hand back and tucked the ring into his robes, turning slightly away so Haru could only see his face in profile.

“Farewell your highness. I wish you a safe journey.”

Haru felt a hand clasp his shoulder.

“Now Prince Nanase.”

Sapped of all strength, he allowed Sousuke to pull him away.

**\--x--**

Rin climbed to the highest point in the palace - the very same that he and Haru had stood on together mere weeks before - and watched as the contingent carrying Haru from him turned to specks on the horizon and disappear. Then he turned and walked through the palace straight backed and with purpose until he reached his mothers chambers.

Queen Miyako was sat at the window waiting for him. When she heard the door she turned, face worn with worry.

“Son?”

Rin’s head was bowed, his shoulders heavy. He looked mere moments from crumpling completely under the weight of his decision.

He spoke with a tight voice. ‘It is done. He is gone.”

And then silently he went to his knees. Miyako was at his side in an instant, pulling him into her arms and holding him quietly as he sobbed. For a short time they were not queen and prince. They were mother and son only, and Rin no longer tried to battle all he felt. He let himself feel the keenness of the loss the person he had given his heart to.

“I promised. I promised myself no matter who was sent to us I would find at least one thing to love. Only I did not anticipate there being so many. Or myself being so unloveable in return.” He spoke, trying to fight the tears from his voice but failing utterly. Miyako only held him tighter.

“My son. My beautiful, big hearted son.” She whispered as she rocked him, cradling him as she had back when he was a boy, stroking his hair and speaking calming words until finally, exhausted, Rin fell asleep in her arms. Though full grown now, she felt equally as protective over him as she had when he was a boy. But there were no monsters to be chased away. Only a heartbreak she had no power to heal. A harm she had been unable to protect him from.

* * *

The return journey to Iwatobi passed quickly, so much more quickly than Haru remembered the journey there having felt, as if the very land conspired to speed him away from Rin.

The lands that separated Iwatobi and Samezuka we’re harsh and unforgiving - desert that blended into rocky, barren planes - and the days were gruelling., starting at sun up and continuing until the last of the daylight was spent. Haru welcomed the physical exertion. On the journey to Samezuka he had been forced to stay hidden in the covered lectica. At least here he was allowed a mount, and the pain in his muscles distracted him some from the ache of his chest that would not ease no matter how much he tried to rationalise the events of his time in Rin’s household.

Unfortunately, proficient a rider as he was, the days also left his mind far too unoccupied, and with no-one willing to converse with him, the waking hours quickly became a torture of replaying ever moment of unkindness he had ever shown Rin. Every time he had spurned him, avoided him, thought him bothersome.

Sousuke did not speak to him barely at all. Nothing beyond what was absolutely necessary to tell him of the days schedule of riding and the infrequent stops for water and sustenance. The men that accompanied them likewise offered quiet deference and professionalism, but no warmth.

One evening as camp was set, out of desperation for contact - or indeed for a reprieve from his own mind, he wasn’t sure - Haru approached Sousuke as he tended the horses.

“We are still a long way from Iwatobi land. Will you truly pretend I am not here all this way?”

Sousuke’s shoulders stiffened, but he did indeed pretend that Haru had not spoken.

“You dislike this duty? That he has asked this of you?” Haru guessed.

“No. You are wrong.” Sousuke answered shortly. Haru thought that was all he would get, but then Sousuke turned, eyes aflame with the anger he had clearly been attempting to beat back in his silence.

“I do not pretend to know much about love. But I know it’s supposed to make people happier. Bring out their best self. Since you have come to us I have watched him fade. Become less of himself. Question himself. His worth. Twist himself in knots to try and make you look on him with any favour at all. Taking you away from Samezuka, away from him, is my pleasure.”

Haru felt his guts twist painfully. _Is that really what he had done? Had been? To Rin?_

The words were hard, a battle against the lump in his throat. “I am.... sorry. Please. Tell him that.”

“I will not.” Sousuke all but spat. “You had more than enough time and chances to do so yourself. You may be a prince but I won’t be ordered about by you. I’m here on his command, not yours.”

Haru did not try to speak with him again.

\--x--

When Iwatobi was finally spotted on the horizon, Sousuke rode out with the carts of treasures, Rin’s letters and two guards to parlay with the King. Haru was left sullen in the camp. The formality of the negotiation seemed ridiculous to him. For where else was he to go now but home? He’d been banished once, only to be expelled from Rin’s palace in turn.

 _No, not expelled_. His mind protested. _Freed._

He still did not feel very free.

As the sun started to dip in the sky, Sousuke and his men finally returned. Haru walked to the edge of the encampment to meet them, the eyes of the remaining guards on him as they had been all day.

Sousuke dismounted and walked past him, barely sparing him a glance.

“It is done. The King is expecting you in the morning.”

Haru’s expression soured and he turned and called after him. “The morning? I can see the palace from here.”

Sousuke shrugged unconcerned. “That is the word of your King. I did not argue it.”

“What is stopping me simply taking a horse and riding out now?” Haru protested stubbornly. The journey had been a slow kind of torture. He wished it and the whole matter of his return over.

Sousuke’s lip curled.

“I am. We are.” He gestured to the small company of men that had accompanied him. “Because for some reason my prince is most concerned about your safety. Every man here would rather die than fail him.”

“That seems rather extreme.” Haru frowned. He knew soldiers were required to put their lives on their line in times of war, but surely this was not a matter that should inspire loyalty to the death?

Sousuke’s mouth was a hard, thin line. “Then you truly do not know him at all, nor the love he inspires and deserves.”

That night, Haru could not sleep. His body lacked the wear of a hard day’s riding to pull him under, and so instead he watched the ceiling of his tent and imagined the reception he would be walking into in the morning.

He thought of his father, of the rage he must be in at having his plans so disrupted. He thought of his brothers. Of their scheming. Of the delight they must feel at knowing he had proven himself beneath their notice all over again.

He tried to think instead of the sea. Of the cold, dark peace it offered. _Whatever else I can swim tomorrow._ He thought.

But it granted him no relief. Instead he remembered Rin, on his hands and knees in the sand, wide eyes with surprise and cheeks flushed with exertion.

_“Haruka you are fast. Where did you learn to swim like that?”_

He was grateful when the dawn arrived and he could stop straining for any semblance of peace.

* * *

They left their makeshift camp as the very first fingers of dawn light reached into the sky and approached the palace of Iwatobi from the seafront, avoiding much of the slowly waking town. There was no formal reception awaiting him. Makoto only stood to meet him at the great gates looking anxious. He exchanged a few short words with Sousuke, and passed him a folded parchment, before Sousuke turned and started to ride away. He did not seek any rest or provisions. He did not offer Haru a single further word.

Makoto turned and helped Haru dismount from his horse. His words were tight, almost whispered.

“Haru. I did not think to see you again so soon. When the messenger came yesterday…” he trailed off noticing Haru’s expression. “Are you ok? What has happened? Will you tell me everything?”

Haru nodded towards the doors. “Are they angry?”

“They are surprised.” Makoto replied carefully. “We all are a little. But it is wonderful to see you.” He stepped forward to embrace Haru who sagged into his arms.

“They have requested your presence right away. But after, will you walk with me?” Makoto pulled away regarding him with kind, worried eyes. Haru nodded, looking grimly in the direction of the throne room. Makoto squeezed his arm.

“All will be well Haru. You are home now.”

\--x--

Eight stoney faces stared down at him from the raised platform in the Iwatobi palace throne room; his mother, father, three brothers and their wives all dressed in resplendent blue. Too late Haru registered he was still wearing the red cloak he had borrowed from Rin and had not parted with during the journey. He tried to stand tall against their stares.

He realised too with some shock he had become used to the plain, clean lines of Samezuka, and that the ornate, curling archway that framed the thrones and the complex, swirling patterns in blue and silver, that covered the walls, the gold of the chandeliers and candelabras that he had previously barely even noticed now struck him as overwrought.

“So our son is returned to us less than a full sun cycle since his marriage. What is the meaning of this?”

His father spoke calmly, almost casually. It felt dangerous.

“You have received the Prince of Samezuka’s messenger have you not?” Haru asked, wondering exactly how Rin had tried to explain such a thing. He had spoken of the treaty, of there being no shame, but beneath the facade of his calm he could see his father was seething.

“Pretty words.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Delivered with riches that exceed ten times your dowry. I do not like it. It is most irregular. Samezuka must be up to something to seek to revise a treaty that has held for generations”

“A wedding we asked for and a wedding took place.” The Queen reminded her husband quietly, echoing Rin’s own words. “He has released our son home to us and will yet honour all further conditions of the treaty and grant us new routes for trade. Surely this is a blessing?”

The King snorted and did not look at her. “A blessing was to have a member of our line at the right hand of Samezuka’s throne when all we expected was a barbarian princess. This is shameful, to have our kin so publicly cast off.”

“He did not cast me off.” Haru interrupted quietly. “The marriage… it did not… I didn’t ... “ he trailed off unable to find the words, unsure if he himself understood what had taken place between them.

“So you ran away then?” Prince Kaouru, his eldest brother, sneered. “What? Did he force himself on you? They say he has teeth like a demon, this Prince. That he drinks the blood of a different pretty young virgin each night. Is it true? Did he scare you so terribly that you ran all the way back here with your tail between your legs.”

“He’s not scary“ Haru protested, the idea almost ridiculous to him when he thought of Rin’s wide smile, his boyish moods. “He’s kind. He was kind to me.”

“Well I hear talk that he is even more of a fool than his father was” Princess Mia declared.

“I wonder if he will last as long?” Princess Aya replied mildly. “Or get himself killed like all the other kings of the Matsuoka line.” 

“He will die young. All King’s of Samezuka do.” his brother Kyoya remarked with authority.

“Stop it! All of you!” Haru heard the shout before he registered that it had come from his own mouth.

They looked at him astonished.

Haru squared his shoulders and forced himself to withstand their stares. “Prince Matsuoka is a good man. He will make a great king. He didn’t send me away and he didn’t hurt me. He treated me well. He arranged for my return because he thought me unhappy.”

“Thought.you.unhappy. _unhappy._ ” The king annunciated each word with poison precision. “And what, pray tell, did you have to be unhappy about.”

“He saw that…He felt that… I did not love him.” Haru answered, finding the words sharp and painful to say, like a blade pressed into his ribs. _Strange._ He thought absently. _It is done. Why does it hurt so much to say?_

“What has love to do with anything?” His father scoffed. The queen flinched almost imperceptible.

“He believes love is important. It is why he would not let his sister take the match. He wanted her to find love. He wanted that for me too.”

“Fool. Idiots the both of you.”

Prince Kaouru snarled “Well that at least makes some sense. No wonder you got sent back. You always were a strange, unlovable thing. Now our chances for influence over the throne are gone”

“But he told me I was easy to love.” Haru spoke softly, the revelation more for himself than anyone else.

“Stop mumbling and be gone from my sight.” King Nanase raged. “Stupid, stubborn child. We have given you all you could ask for and you repay us with this shame. Now be gone.”

\--x--

Makoto was waiting for him outside, and Haru was grateful for it, unsure his own legs could support him much longer.

Arm in arm, Makoto led him through the palace, shielding him from the stares and whispers from those they passed, and out to the salt garden, so named as it was positioned on a cliff edge so that it looked out to the Iwatobi harbour and the steely blue of the sea beyond. It had always been one of his favoured placed to hide away in the palace, and he was thankful Makoto had thought of such a thing.

The sharp, fresh air felt good, and after a few deep breaths Haru felt his mind clear a little. He turned to where Makoto was stood, watching him quietly.

“I do not know where to begin.” Makoto admitted. “But I am glad you are home.”

“How is Nagisa?” Haru replied. He thought of how much he had blamed himself back in Samezuka. How crushed and small he had looked at the end of his dance.

Makoto’s face clouded a little. “He has not been himself. He is sad. Worried about you. But Rei and Ikuya have been keeping close care of him.”

“I’d like to see him. Soon. None of this is his fault. He must understand that.” Haru looked out at the sea. It calmed him somehow, as did the salt in the air and the familiarity of Makoto at his side.

But then Makoto spoke and he felt the reality of all that had passed since he last stood in this place press into him again. “Haru, what has happened here? The things that you were sent with - the court has never seen gifts like it and yet… there is something uneasy in this. Are we to war with Samezuka?”

Haru shook his head. “No. That is not what this is. Rin works for peace. He… has released me from our obligation to the treaty. And since our marriage … we did not.” Despite himself he felt his skin flush. “There was no consummation and so according to Samezuka law the marriage was not binding. He let me go.”

“Oh.” Makoto replied faintly, seemingly unsure how to respond.

Haru pulled up short suddenly “Where is it?” He demanded.

Makoto was understandably taken aback. “Where is what?”

“The portrait. The portrait he sent me to mark our betrothal. I did not look at it.”

Makoto frowned. “I… I believe it was sent to the vaults after you left. It should still be there. But why Haru?”

Haru shook his head and looked away, gaze falling back to the crashing waves. “It does not matter.”

Later though, he crept away to the vault. Not that he had needed to sneak, he had forgotten how little his movements mattered in Iwatobi. What he had once felt as freedom now struck him as a strange almost ghostly existence. A prince of the country and yet he was largely forgotten about in his own home.

He had never been given the same lessons as his brothers, so unlikely was it considered that he would ever ascend to the throne. So different to Rin who had included him in everything. He had always been free to run around and play as he might like with Makoto and Nagisa, but it now seemed strange to him that growing up he had spent so little time around his own family.

He thought of Rin and queen Miyako and Gou. How familiar and affectionate they were with each other when in private. How easily Rin had allowed him access to that, allowed him into the inner walls of their small family unit.

He felt a wave of guilt crash over him. It was not a feeling he was used to and had to reach out to steady himself a little against the doorway to the vault. _His father’s ring._ He thought again, worrying his fingers around the now bare ring finger. _He was willing to allow me to keep it. Despite everything. He wanted me to have something to remember him by._

It did not take long to locate the painting, leaning against a wall and still covered by a thick tapestry. Haru threw off its cover. His breath caught in his throat. It was Rin, stood looking poised and serious, his lips pressed into a firm line. He was clothed in his wedding chiton, his circlet glowing burnished gold against the ruby of his hair.

He was beautiful, but it was wrong, Haru thought. He was too stiff, too serious looking. The painter had missed it all, he thought. Failed to capture his light, his energy. Haru even missed the sight of his flash of sharp bright teeth.

“He should be smiling.” he mumbled to himself, reaching up to brush a finger over the closed, rosy mouth in the picture.

Had he really not looked at it at all? He tried to think back to those weeks before his marriage, but all he could recall was spending as much time as possible in the sea, Makoto sat on the beach fretting as Haru refused to speak of it, pushing away any thought of the match he had no say and no interest in.

Had he decided then already that it wouldn’t work? Would it have made any difference if he had looked upon this beautiful, regal youth in the painting?

Haru wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure what difference it could possibly make now. But he stayed a long time anyway, staring quietly at the painting and wondering what Rin was doing right then. What he was wearing, how his hair looked, what he had eaten that day, would he go swimming? Or would he be tied up in matters of state? Was he still dealing with the repercussions of his decision to allow Haru to be free of their bond.

And why, why didn’t Haru feel free?

“It’s strange to be back here.” he whispered at the painting quietly. “I didn’t expect it to feel so strange. Are you happier now that I am gone? I know I made you very unhappy at the end. I’m sorry.”

The Rin in the painting stayed silent and unsmiling.

Before Haru left, he re-covered the painting with its heavy tapestry and ordered an attendant standing guard at the door to have it delivered to his chambers.

* * *

That night Haru jerked awake in a cold sweat, unsure of where he was until his eyes adjusted and he recognised his old chambers. He had dreamed about that day on the camels, riding back from the oasis . The arrow. The blood blooming bright over Rin’s chest.

Only in the dream the blood hadn’t stopped.

He sat panting, trying to shake the image away of Rin turning grey and cold. Of Haru’s hand wet with his blood.

Rin was fine. It was only a dream. Only a dream.

But the thought then occurred that one day Rin could be hurt again. Could die even, and all the way in Iwatobi Haru wouldn’t know until weeks, maybe months later. Wouldn’t be there. His chest stuttered with cold terror of the fact.

_He will die young. All kings of Samezuka do._

The words of his brother came back to Haru now in the cold dark and they hit him with a wave of grief.

Rin would die one day.

And Haru wouldn’t be there.

He pulled himself from his bed, lighting a lamp with shaking fingers and was drawn powerlessly towards the painting that now sat propped in the centre of his room. He looked upon it in the flickering light of the flame and finally, alone, he spoke the words he had been unable to say to Rin. To Makoto. To Nagisa even. The acknowledgement come far too late. So late that it felt pointless. Hopeless. And yet he spoke the words aloud anyway.

“I love him. I am in love with Rin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kind comments on the last chapter. NGL I wasn't sure anybody would still be reading this after the big gap between chapters, and my confidence in being able to write this story has not been so high lately, so it means such a lot and really gave me a boost <3


	7. Vii: Duodecim diebus

Haru’s days passed purposeless. Life in Iwatobi did not so much welcome him back as simply absorb him with barely even the gesture of a change in pace. After that first uncomfortable audience with his father the high court - the council, his brothers - for the most part they simply ignored him as they had always done. Once more he found himself living as a ghost in his own home, his days unremarkable and unimportant. Yet, while before it had felt something like freedom, now it only struck him as empty. 

The moon waxed and waned, days bleeding into weeks then a whole month since his return. 

And he missed Rin.

He missed Rin with an intensity that both surprised him and yet also seemed to taunt him with how inevitable it all was. He structured his structureless days with thoughts of what he was doing. Of what Haru would have been doing at his side. Would they have been training together? Bathing together? In council together? Taking petitions from the people? Would this have been a day they could have stolen a few hours alone at the oasis. Would Rin be swimming, smiling, laughing? 

The guilt, the grief, the self reproach, the raw longing... Haru tried to drown it all out in the solace of the sea - something he had fantasized about often during his months in landlocked Samezuka - but even this did little to ease him. He wanted to swim with Rin, and even the water seemed to silently reproach him for his foolishness. 

He kept Rin’s portrait propped up in his chambers and refused anyone who dared suggest it unseemly. Even Makoto who hovered around him, gentle but uncertain of how to deal with this sad, sullen boy that had taken the place of his friend, could not persuade him to part with it. 

Each night he stayed up late writing letters he knew could never be sent. All correspondence with Samezuka was managed by his father who was still quietly seething that Haru had so upset his plans for influence. But he wrote them anyway, after so much unsaid when he had the chance, the words suddenly pouring forth out of him. I love you, I love you, I love you. 

More than once as he wandered listless and directionless around the palace he would look up only to find his feet had carried him to the stables. Go, just go. His heart told him. But then he would remember the look on Rin’s face as he had stood before the council. As he had bid Haru leave him. Consequently, he didn’t ever get much further than the taverns in the city below, Makoto and Rei unable to hide their increasing distress at how often they would be summoned to pull him home after he had drunk himself into blessed numb oblivion. 

* * *

It was after one such night, when Haru had emptied much of the contents of his stomach repeatedly on the stumble back to his rooms and had woken feeling dried out and disoriented, that he found Makoto waiting for him on the shore after his customary morning swim. 

There had been a time that he would have expected it - Makoto always there watching and waiting for him - but since Haru had been so cast off from his family Makoto had been promoted to dealing with his father and Haru had new guards that he thought little of and spoke less to.

He had hoped the morning swim would revive him. Stop the pounding of his head and replace the bitter tang on his tongue, but no such luck. And the expression on Makoto’s face suggested his day was not about to get better. 

Makoto at least let him dry off first, politely averting his eyes as Haru tied a thick, quilted robe around him for the walk back to the palace before his friend’s voice cut sharp and stern over the sound of the wind and the waves. 

“Haru, you have to stop this.”

It wasn’t funny, but Haru gave a dry snort anyway. “Why must I.” 

“It isn’t healthy. And it’s starting to scare me.”

Haru just turned away, staring back at the rippling steel grey of the ocean. He didn’t want to hurt or worry his friends - reuniting with them was the only bright spot in this whole situation - but he couldn’t even begin to explain that for all the love he felt for them, that brightness could not push back the cloud of hopelessness that followed him everywhere he went. He knew that would only hurt them more. 

He sensed Makoto come to his side so that they stood shoulder to shoulder. He could tell he was staring at him, but kept his gaze turned away. 

“You still haven’t been sleeping.” He finally said tiredly, more of a statement than a question and sounding very much like his own sleep had been less than ideal of late. 

There was a long pause before Haru answered, still speaking out to the waves.

“I dream of him. Every night. And of how I have spurned him. Hurt him.” 

“He wanted you to be happy Haru. He did this so you could be happy. I do not think he would want you to feel this guilt.” Makoto replied gently. 

Silence hung between them, the blatant fact of Haru’s current extreme unhappiness unspoken between them, and yet plain all the same. 

Makoto sighed again, true regret in his tone as he spoke. “I am come because I am called to present you to the throne room. Let me help ready you.”

Haru barely raised his head. “Father?”

“And your brothers.” 

Haru stared harder out at the sea, and tried to quell the urge to run back in and keep swimming until he couldn't see land. 

\--x--

Hair still wet, and feeling more of the remnants of his woozy sickness than he would have liked before facing his father, Haru walked the long corridor that led through the heart of the palace to the throne room. He wondered what they could possibly want with him. Nothing good if Makoto’s weariness had been anything to go by. 

He was formally announced by a guard at the door, and entered. 

The room was empty of the court. Only his father, a few senior members of the council and his brothers sat at the raised dais. His mother - mostly a silent observer in proceedings - sat not in her throne but little way off to the side quietly stitching. His eldest brother instead took her place at his father's side and looked down at him, eyes full of contempt. 

Haru tried not to let the needless pageantry of the thing annoy him, and with a polite bow presented himself and waited to be dealt with. 

His father was handling a scroll. It was crumpled with the wear of his fingers over the parchment and Haru could not make out the seal, but it looked to have come stamped with wax. He looked up and frowned as if unsure for a moment why Haru was there, then motioned over a scribe. 

“Haruka, you are to tell us everything you learned during your stay with the Samezuka Crown Prince. Your being there must have been good for something. What of his armies? His trade plans? His council?”

Haru blinked. Rin had always been open about wanting him involved not only in his life, but in the runnings of his lands, utterly guileless in his treatment of him. He wondered what he would think if he saw him now. He must have known it was a risk? And yet he allowed Haru into every aspect of his home anyway. 

“Nothing. I know nothing. He didn’t tell me a thing.”

The King growled. “Nothing? How could that be so?”

Haru kept his gaze steady. “He did not tell me. And his council worried you had sent me as a spy which is false, is it not father?”

King Nanase ignored his pointed tone. “Did you not take it upon yourself to learn on your own? What did you do all those months?”

“Swimming.” Haru answered slowly, mind’s eye filled with the image of him and Rin at the oasis, swimming and talking. Rin’s eyes bright, his smile wide. The way without his royal clothes and the weight of kingship against him he looked like what he was - a youth in the prime of his beauty, excited and delighted by the world. 

“Swimming.” the King spat. “Out. out of my sight.”

“Perhaps this future King is not as brutal nor so foolish as you wish to believe after all” the Queen wondered aloud. “It sounds like our son had a rather pleasant time.” 

Haru shot her a small, grateful look as he turned and left. 

\--x--

This pattern repeated a few times over the following days and weeks. At odd times of the day and night his father would call him in for an audience and ask him a series of questions about his time in Samezuka - about the food, the lifestyle, the customs. About Rin himself - and Haru would either be silent or give the most innocuous answers he could think of before his Father or brothers or the council inevitably tired of him and dismissed him. 

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep or his own, inwardly fixed sorrow, but it took him longer than it should have to understand the significance of these audiences. To register the palace becoming busier and quick with anticipation. To realise they were all waiting for something. 

For someone. 

The final time his father called him, he had only one question. 

“Tell me more about Yamazaki. The one that brought you back.”

Haru blinked, this was unexpected. Most of the questioning so far had been lazer focused on either Rin himself, or the broader plans and customs of the people of Samezuka. 

His first thought at the name came with the image of hard teal eyes, mouth grim, brow furrowed, and his own expression soured. But then he remembered the way Sousuke had clasped Rin close to him at their departure. How he was never far from his side. The stories Rin had told Haru of their boyish adventures. Despite himself, he felt his judgement of the man soften. 

“He is his closest friend and confident.” 

King Nanase waved a hand dismissively. “Kings don’t have friends. They have subjects and enemies. What of his interests? His loyalties? Could he be swayed?” 

Haru shook his head, and repeated what Sousuke had told him. “The Prince’s men would all give their lives rather than fail him.” 

This caused his father’s lip to curl. “Then what is his lineage? His relationship to the throne? Who is he that he sees fit to dictate to us the terms of the Prince’s visit?”

Every muscle in Haru’s body flicked into tension, breath caught in his lungs.

“V-visit? You mean Ri- the Prince is to come here?” 

His father’s eyes flashed with irritation. 

“To finalise the treaty that will replace the one that you so successfully undermined of course. Have you not been listening?” 

He thrust a letter out towards Haru, who reached for it with shaking fingers, mind still struggling to understand what he was learning. 

The Prince’s visit. The Prince’s visit. Rin was coming. 

Haru cradled the letter in his hands as if it might disintegrate. It was not written in Rin’s hand but it spoke of him. 

“His highness The Crown Prince of Samezuka has consented to accept your terms. He will stay for 12 days and 12 nights, no more, with the understanding that this time will be used to bring our nations to agreement on a new treaty that will hold peace between our lands.” 

“When…” he opened and closed his mouth a few times wordlessly. Too many questions, too many hopes and fears tearing through him all at once. 

“They will arrive before month’s end. Needless to say, your conduct has no doubt not endeared you to the Prince or his retinue, so you will mark my words when I tell you that the fact you are my own blood will not spare you if any actions on your part impede the process of this historic event. Our houses have not met in parley since the war. My legacy as the architect of this new era will not be threatened by your willfulness. Are we clear?” 

Haru was still fixed on the letter, but he nodded soundlessly. 

“Then back to the matter at hand. Yamazaki. Who is his family-”

But Haru was not listening. He was still fixated on the words in front of him. There in ink and yet he dared not fully believe what he was hearing, what he was reading could be true. He suddenly desperately needed air. Needed the sea. Needed something - anything - to control the rapid beat of his heart. He faintly became aware of his father repeating his name. 

He dropped the letter.

“No. No I must -- excuse me I am unwell.” 

He turned, forgetting to bow. Not waiting to be excused.

“I think our brother is scared to see his jilted lover.” Prince Kaouru scoffed unkindly. 

But Haru was not listening. He ran for the sea. 

\--x--

Dusk had fallen by the time Makoto came to seek him. He had long stopped swimming and instead sat in the shallows, ignoring the encroaching cold and letting the roll of the waves soothe his racing mind. 

By month’s end.

His father's words spun round and round in his mind. Rin was coming. He would get to see him again. And there would be peace. It seemed too much of a blessing to be true. He did not know what he had done to deserve the fates to grant him this chance, but he swore on each and every emerging star that he would not see it wasted. 

He heard footsteps and turned to see Makoto holding several robes and blankets and a lamp. 

“Haru, come in now. You will get sick.”

Haru’s lips and throat felt dry with the sea water and when he spoke his voice cracked. 

“Why did you not tell me?”

Makoto reached and Haru allowed himself to be pulled up to standing, robes wrapped around him. 

“Forgive me. It was not certain until today and I did not wish to cause you undue distress. He has refused to come here many times.” 

“Because of me?”

“Because…. It is unprecedented. A treaty should be signed on neutral ground. This is a concession.”

“But he is coming? Truly?”

Makoto nodded, but his expression grew more troubled. “Haru, are you going to be ok? Since you returned….you have not been yourself. This visit … It is a delicate thing. Perhaps it would be best if we went away for a time?”

But Haru only shook his head, warmed by the kernel of hope that had started to glow within him. 

12 days, 12 nights. To see Rin. To make things right.

* * *

The waiting was painful. The days no longer merged and slipped by unmarked, instead Haru was torturously aware of every slow hour that passed, each creeping arc of the sun that narrowed the divide between him and the chance to see Rin again. 

With the formal announcement that the visit was to go ahead, the palace was in a state of restless anticipation that mirrored his own. Everywhere he turned the talk was of Samezuka. Much of it centered on Rin himself. Or rather, the terrible, mythical version of Rin that Haru himself had once believed to be true - all blood and slaughter and cruelty. Haru tried to ignore it, as much as it made his blood boil. 

Soon, he thought, soon they will come to see the man he is.

The prospect of reunion had another effect. Haru became sharply aware - as if waking from a dream - of what his friends had been seeing in him ever since his return. He had never considered himself vain, but had understood from a young age that he was generally considered a beauty. He was therefore somewhat alarmed to come to understand just how much his current appearance differed from what he was used to seeing reflected back at him. Staring at the polished bronze mirror in his chambers he could finally understand why Makoto, Ikuya, Nagisa and Rei looked at him with such worry of late. His eyes looked sunken and bruised by too little sleep, he had clearly lost more than a little weight and his skin was rough and blemished by too many nights in the taverns. 

He had the palace servants draw him a large hot bath - far hotter than he would normally enjoy - and they scrubbed and buffed and oiled him until he was slipping around on the marble floors. His hair and nails were cut and oiled and the patches of stubble on his cheeks and jaw shaved away. He pondered at length over what he should wear, layering up shirts and tunics and quilted jackets to disguise the hollows of his collarbones and ribs. It was a far more rigorous preparation than he had conceded to even for his wedding, and yet at the end he was still unsatisfied. 

What if he no longer cares for you. What if even prettied up and polished he no longer sees what he once did. His reflection seemed to ask. 

Haru had no answer, and could only pray to all the gods he’d heard of that he was not too late. 

\--x--

Finally the time arrived. Haru was not allowed to wait and watch from the ramparts as he wanted, but he and the members of the high court were gathered into the throne room where the Samezuka visitors would first present. 

Even by Iwatobi standards the decorations were ostentatious. Everywhere the eye looked was the royal symbol of house Nanase in blue and gold. Lush silks draped across the ceiling and finely wrought candelabras lined the walls and aisles, illuminating the court in soft flickering light.

His father sat at the head of the room raised above all, the dais artificially lifted several stacks more than usual. He was flanked by the Crown Prince Kaouru and the second son Kyoya. Haru and his third brother Kaito had been relegated to sit to the right with his mother and the women. Though at least Haru consoled himself that Makoto was at his side. On duty, but less than an arm's reach away. To the left of the thrones, several rows of cushioned chairs sat empty, awaiting their visitors. 

Haru could not breathe as the drums and brasses finally started up and he saw the first of the Samezuka contingent enter through the heavily wrought doors at the far end of the great hall. At first it was just a blur of crimson as they swept into the room. They were all clad in identical long robes that were far more conservative than anything Haru had seen the household wear in his time in the palace, apparently a gesture of respect to the Iwatobi style. 

As they got closer, Haru surprised himself that he recognised many - Momo, Aii, Seijuro, Nao… but there was only one face he searched for. 

With the horns reaching a crescendo, Haru watched as Sosuke entered, a gleaming shield pin at his shoulder than Haru was sure he had seen before, and then finally, finally, Rin. 

Haru breath caught in his throat, and he was vaguely aware of a ripple of whispers breaking out among the court. 

The infamous foreign prince arrived at last. 

Rin, unlike his men, was dressed in white. He was clad in a chiton, but one of long flowing material that fell to the ground, a rich scarlet cape at his shoulders spreading out and fanning behind him. Conservative though his clothes were, his arms were left bare, golden cuffs around his biceps and forearms, showing the muscle there to best advantage. His hair was slicked away from his face, royal circlet set against his temples and polished to such a shine that in the light of all the chandeliers and candelabras it took on the glow of the fire. There was gold paint around his eyes, brushed out to his temples. His lips too were touched with gold. 

He didn’t just look like a king. He looked like a god. 

Yet it was the man that Haru wanted. 

He felt the room’s excitement. People craning their necks for a look at the much spoken of prince. But Haru could not take it in properly. Could only look at Rin; a wave of such intense longing rising up in him that he wanted to double over with it.

Then he felt Makoto’s hand on his shoulder. 

“Haru.. are you ok?” He hissed. 

Haru nodded numbly, but Makoto was clearly unconvinced, as the hand slipped to his elbow.

He tried to focus on the steadying grip. To keep from rising from his chair and rushing forward to ... to what. He didn’t know. He only knew that his heart was beating almost out of his chest at the sight of Rin.

Rin, however, did not look at him at all. His gaze stayed fixed on the King. Unwavering, no hint of submission despite how clearly outnumbered the Samezuka contingent were. 

With the barest of flutter of his fingers, the troop stopped. All but Rin briefly inclined their heads. The barest gesture of acknowledgement of the throne. The crowd murmured at this. That Samezuka would not bow to their King. 

Haru finally tore his eyes from Rin to glance at his father. His face was calm, but Haru could tell he was displeased. For years he had replicated the lie of the monstrous royal family of Samezuka. Of the land of barely civilized overreaching farmers. To have Rin and his men present so well - to look so well. It did not suit his cause. Yet he smiled as he rose to standing, opening his arms wide. 

“Crown Prince Matsuoka, we welcome you and your kin to our home. This is a momentous occasion, let it mark the start of a new era of peace between our nations.” 

The crowd turned to Rin expectant. Still he did not bow, but stared back steely-eyed and determined. When he spoke, his voice projected to all, steady and equally commanding. 

“We accept your gracious offer of welcome and come bearing gifts to honour the house of Iwatobi. 100 horses, and as many chariots for them to pull. May this mark a closing of the gap between us and may this visit bring us closer as allies in delivering peace and prosperity for our people.” 

This, though not the gesture of deference the crowd wished for, was well received. 

With great pomp and ceremony - flags raised and horns blasting - a fourth throne was brought onto the dais, and Rin ascended the steps to take his place at the side of Haru’s father and brothers. 

As he and his party settled, a red banner bearing the house Matsuoka sigil was unfurled overhead, though it looked pitifully small and overcome by the sea of blue. If Rin noted this, he did not show any sign of it. He looked out at the crowd unflinching; with his chin tilted and shoulders back he looked fierce and proud. It was hard to believe it was the same person that Haru knew could so easily be reduced to blushing stuttering. 

After allowing the gathered courtiers the chance just to gaze at them in all their royal glory, Haru’s father spread his hands wide and grinned, delivering a grand speech about the magnitude of the moment. Rin then echoed his words, voice as king-like as Haru had ever heard it as he talked about the history of their lands, and his hopes that together they would now work to do better than was done before.

Haru couldn’t take his eyes from him. The angle was awkward, his view partially obstructed by his father, but he watched the movement of Rin’s lips. The way he would jut out his jaw to emphasise a point. He let the cadence of his voice wash over him and found himself leaning forward in his chair, face tilted as if seeking sunlight. He knew Makoto was watching him strangely, but he could not help it. Rin was there. Mere feet away. Alive and commanding and beautiful and real. Finally real after so many nights haunted by his likeness in all his dreams and nightmares.

After more speeches from the council outlining what would occur in the days to come, there was the ceremonial toast: Rin, Haru’s father and the crown prince symbolically sipping from the same chalice of wine in a commitment to work towards peace present and future. 

Then, thankfully, the ceremonial welcome was concluded. The gathered court stood as King Nanase made a show of walking shoulder to shoulder with Rin, down from the dais and into a small, more intimate annex that sat behind the throne room. Only the most immediate royal family and Rin’s closest party were permitted to enter, and so Haru slipped thankfully away from the eyes of the crowd and merged in with the small procession that followed them. He was separated from Rin by a few bodies, but felt his pulse flicker back up a pace at the prospect of finally having the opportunity to approach him. 

“I judge that went well. Now for a real drink, not that ceremonial pigswill. Your highness you will join us?” King Nanase’s voice came booming, and he looked very pleased with himself as his personal servants rushed forth to hand out golden goblets of his finest wine.

Rin nodded and accepted the drink, but there was a tension about his frame that made clear he was still on guard. 

At a loss for what else to do, Haru accepted his own goblet and drained it in one. Nerves were not something he was accustomed to, but after so many weeks of hoping for Rin, he suddenly felt unequipped for how to act in front of him. 

Not that he was as yet able to get close. Rin was surrounded by his father and brothers, Sousuke also there, stubbornly refusing to give an inch from his side, as his father introduced each of them in turn. 

Haru resisted the urge to seek another drink before he squared his shoulders, dodging and twisting through the gathered servants and guards and avoiding his brothers wives until he reached this tight knot at the centre. 

“Ah, and you are of course already acquainted with my fourth son Haruka. Though perhaps not as intimately as we had all hoped.” 

Haru stopped, aware that all at once the attention of the room was on him. His father was still smiling, but it did not lessen the jab behind his words - though if it were aimed at him or Rin or both was unclear. 

As for he and Rin, they stared at each other in a silence laced with multiple types of tension. Rin’s face was carefully blank of any readable emotion, whereas Haru felt sure his every wish, every hope was writ plain to see. He felt exposed, vulnerable, yet it was Rin who was first to crack and look away.

“I am glad to see your son was returned safe to where he belongs.” His tone was clipped. A warning perhaps to the King. He held out his goblet for a servant to collect though it looked to Haru like he could not have had more than a sip or two. 

Haru opened his mouth to speak, but his father got there first, and as quickly as he had been the focal point, he was once more dismissed. 

“Yes. Quite. We are sorry for the great trouble and expense it must have cost you to deal with him. The gifts you sent were of a rare quality and yet you honour us with more. 100 horses and chariots. My people will look well on Samezuka for this. And while you are a guest in our lands you will see that we too are not an ungenerous people. We have plenty of riches of our own and we will repay you and your kin with all the best Iwatobi can offer. Food, sport, drink.” 

The King’s grin turned conspiratorial and he signalled to the servants. “And of course, then there is entertainment. May I present you an offering of our own.”

The discreet service door to the annex swung open at his command, and in filed a line of beautiful men and women, all in their prime of youth and beauty, beauty that was enhanced by careful paint and hair ornaments, their lithe bodies dressed in suggestive swaiths of silk and lace. As they stopped, they bowed in Rin’s direction in perfect unison. Haru noted that they had been carefully selected to match the little Iwatobi thought they knew of Rin’s taste - not one had dark hair or blue eyes. He felt a swell of anger well up, sure his Father was trying to humiliate him. Or Rin. Or both. 

He desperately willed Rin to look at him, shifting from foot to foot, but Rin’s attention was fully fixed on the men and women before him. Slowly he walked up and down the line, considering each in turn. 

Finally he spoke. 

“What are their talents?”

“Excuse me your highness?” The King seemed caught off guard. 

“Their talents. You mentioned entertainment - do they sing? Do they dance?”

The King’s brow furrowed as he chose his next words carefully. “They have...other talents. They are beautiful and know... many ways to offer pleasant distraction.” 

Haru waited breath caught. It had never occurred to him to envy a servant, particularly not those whose duty was to fulfil the more carnal whims of the court, but he felt sick at the thought of what he would do if Rin did as many visitors before him had done and accepted his father’s offer to take one of the youths to his bed. 

“They are beautiful.” Rin agreed readily. “And their talents must be impressive indeed, as I am sure you would not be so openly testing my honour. You have been informed of our customs have you not?” 

His words were mild, amused even, but Sousuke was glaring hard enough for the both of them. 

Haru felt almost giddy with relief. Point to Rin. 

A muscle twitching in his father’s jaw was the only outward sign of unrest, and when he replied he words were silky smooth. 

“Ah Highness. No offence was meant. It is our custom that guests have their every appetite catered to.”

Rin inclined his head. “And no offense will be taken. But please see that no further offers such as this are made to myself or my party while I stay here.”

There was a hushed murmuring about the room at this, though it was quickly silenced by a brisk clap of the King’s hands, the servants jumping to action to see that the parade of men and women were whisked away, back from whence they came. Rin made a show of stifling a yawn with his hand. 

“If that is all for this evening’s entertainment, I trust you will similarly not take offense if my men and I retire. Our journey has been long and I anticipate a full and productive day ahead of us tomorrow.”

King Nanase’s lip curled a little at this, but he quickly covered it with another oleaginous smile. “Of course not at all. I will have my very best men show you to your quarters. If you want for anything they will be only too happy to oblige.” 

Haru felt a panic wash over him. Rin was turning to walk away and they still had yet to exchange a single word. 

“Wait! Rin.” He blurted, not thinking it through. At once the room turned silent and he found himself once more at the mercy of their stares. 

Rin in turn froze. After a pause that seemed to Haru to last far longer than in truth it did, he half turned back to him, his eyes lowered. 

“Yes, Prince Nanase?”

Sousuke at his side was openly glaring. And Haru lost his nerve. 

“You... you are very welcome here.” 

Rin barely spared him a nod before he turned and continued to walk away.

Sousuke by contrast stayed and stepped to block Haru’s view of Rin’s retreating form. His hands were clenched into fists, and though he spoke ostensibly to Haru, his words were loud enough for all to hear. 

“Prince Nanase, you are cordially reminded to address his highness by his royal title while he is a guest in your home.”

Haru felt his cheeks burn. Sousuke left him with a final fierce glower before he too swept from the room. 

“What, pray tell, was that about.” Prince Kaito sidled up to him, enjoying finally being back in the inner fold. “Your husband and his faithful hound don’t seem too happy to see you again, do they?”

Haru ignored him, willing the heat in his face to dissipate. Then he felt a hand clasped around his arm and turned to be confronted by his father, expression stormy and too close for comfort.

“You overstep. Need I remind you what will happen if you obstruct this? Even Princes are not above the laws of treason. Especially not fourth princes. You have offended the house of Matsuoka enough. The less you show your face these next days the better for all. Am I clear?” 

Feeling the eyes of the room still on him, Haru forced himself to nod, but in his heart he knew different. 

I will not stand to be parted from him any longer. 

* * *

As soon as he was shown to his rooms Rin ordered everyone out - well everyone but Sousuke who refused to go- and leaned his head against the cool wall as he tried to steady his breathing. 

He had always known that Iwatobi far exceeded Samezuka in both lands and wealth but his tutors, no doubt out of pride and loyalty, had made the difference seem less. Standing there in person, the first of many generations of the royal family to step foot in these parts, Rin was faced with the extremity power and the opulence of this rival kingdom.

His own palace could fit several times over into the halls and towers of the Iwatobi grand palace, and in contrast to the clean white lines of his own home everything was rich in swirling patterns of gold and silver and blue. Even the pattern of the tiling hurt his eyes so he squeezed them shut. It was as if at every turn - from the guards to the high ceilings to the heavy tapestries - his surroundings conspired to make him feel small. He had to work to remind himself he was not the uncivilised farm boy they believed him to be, but a Prince in his own right with all the might of Samezuka behind him. 

You have something they want. He reminded himself. He was here to secure the new treaty, to settle plans for new trade between their lands - Iwatobi seeking access to the precious metals his mines afforded him, while Rin was determined to deliver a set of accords that would mean peace between their houses for generations to come. 

But there is something else you want here too. His traitorous heart reminded him. He squeezed his eyes tighter shut, as if by pure will he could blind himself to his feelings. 

The months apart he had steeled himself against this. He had trained harder, worked harder than ever. He had not spoken of Haru. Had forbid himself from even thinking of him. Of Haru and what might have been if only he had been enough.

He had told himself, despite Sousuke’s poorly hidden concern, that he was ready. That if his people feared war he would go in person and see that it did not occur. 

But being there, being in the same room as Haru again had been as hard as he feared. Harder. He had had to work not to look at him too much, to show too openly how his heart had broken its rhythm at the sight of him. 

It had been a shock just how strong his reaction to his presence had been. If he had hoped that time and distance would have brought reason to his emotions he was wrong. Even with such momentous stakes at hand, his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts Haru. Every small moment, every tiny gesture from the short time he had been near to him playing over and over in his mind. 

It did not help that he had not looked as Rin had expected him too. He had anticipated that he would be met by the glowing, happy Haru he had glimpsed when he had been reunited with his friends in Iwatobi months prior. That he would have to resign himself to the evidence that Haru’s happiness lay far from him. Instead he had been surprised to find Haru looked drawn, far thinner than Rin’s memory believed him to be, and oddly seemingly uneasy in the opulence that he had been brought up into. Rin could not help but wonder if he was ok, and then cursed himself for so quickly becoming distracted by the one thing he could not allow to interfere with his work here. If only...

“Rin? Rin are you ok?”

Sousuke’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. He pulled himself away from the wall and nodded. “I am well. Just tired.”

Sousouke looked unconvinced. “You are upset? From seeing him again?”

Rin shook his head, but even as he did so he could not help but blurt out in a rush, “Sou do you think they ever get it wrong?”

Sousuke frowned. 

“Who?”

“The gods. Fate. Whatever marks our destiny. Do you think it’s possible that they make a soulmate but it only works one way?

Sousuke looked struck by some strange grief at the question, but spoke firmly. “Rin he was not your soulmate. Your soulmate will love you. All of you. They won’t leave you. It wasn’t him. Ok?”

Rin sighed and continued to stare listlessly around at the ornately patterned room. “No. No I guess not.”

But inside he didn’t believe it. A part of him knew, just knew that he had been meant for Haru, only he’d failed. He hadn’t been enough. 

“Come now. It has been a long day and is only the first that we need to survive here. You must remember you cannot show them weakness. They believe us to be simple farm folk. Or barbarians depending on who you talk to. So do not let him distract you.” 

Rin nodded, “I know Sou. and I will not fail. What was between us… that is done now. I’m only here for the treaty.” 

He tried to look more confident than he felt, but inside his heart sunk. 

12 days, 12 nights to endure. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't apologise enough for how long it's taken me to get to this. I have a confession - this is actually only half of the chapter I was hoping to post, but it was getting so long and taking me so long to be happy with that I decided best to split into two. It's still not perfect but I hope it's something. Thanks so much for the kind comments I've been getting even with such a long gap. It means a lot that there are people out there still wanting to read this <3
> 
> I can reveal the next chapter includes a confession, a fight and a cameo from Natsuya, but not necessarily in that order x


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